WASHINGTON (AP) — When Fran Townsend was counterterrorism adviser to President George W. Bush, she says, her worst nightmare was that the al Qaida network would send men with assault rifles into malls across the American heartland on a crowded shopping day.
Al Qaida was more focused on airplanes and spectacular bombing attacks, and it apparently never attempted such low-tech mayhem. But current and former American officials say last week's attacks in Paris show the extent to which the Islamic State aspires to hit Western soft targets, including in the United States.
(JNS.org) — Following Friday's Islamist terror attacks that killed at least 129 people, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews said Sunday that it is providing immediate emergency aid of more than $86,000 to 25 synagogues and schools run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement across France.
The aid—which will be used to add security guards and more sophisticated security systems at the French Jewish institutions—marks the latest phase of more than $1 million in security support that the Fellowship has been providing to Chabad institutions worldwide, including in Argentina, Brazil, China, Cypress, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Nepal, Spain, Thailand, and India.
