How to cope with terror threat
Tuesday, when I heard that Los Angeles education officials decided to close more than 1,000 public schools because of what officials said was a credible terrorist threat, I imagined the fear that must have swept the city.
I live in Israel, where terrorist threats are taken seriously, for obvious reasons.
The emailed threat, sent via a server in Germany, said “jihadists” were preparing to attack public schools with bombs, guns and nerve gas.
Although the FBI ultimately deemed the Los Angeles threat, and others directed toward schools in New York and Florida, “not credible,” it underscored how the fear of a terrorist attack can disrupt daily life and make Americans feel scared and vulnerable.
If the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, taught Americans anything, it’s that terrorists can strike anywhere, anytime.
The U.S. government has since taken sweeping steps, from stringent passenger security checks at airports to cyber monitoring, to prevent a large-scale attack, but neither the government nor local municipalities have done much to help prevent the kinds of lonewolf attacks that left 14 people dead in San Bernardino, Calif.
While politicians argue over gun control and whether to bar Muslims from entering the USA, there are practical steps Americans can take to make public places safer from terrorism and other violence.
Israelis have learned the hard way that thwarting terrorism requires security checks and vigilance. For every attack that takes place, others are prevented by alert civilians and security personnel.
In Israel, the phrase “It’s probably nothing, but what if it’s something?” is ingrained from a young age. You see an unattended bag? You call the bomb squad.
Every school in Israel has a security guard or a locked gate — usually both. Every mall, hospital and university, as well as Jerusalem’s central bus and train stations, have armed guards and metal detectors. Bus drivers are trained to note suspicious passengers and to act accordingly.
Israel’s strict gun control laws, which require thorough background checks and storage safeguards, mean that only the adults qualified to carry a gun can legally do so. Although the law isn’t foolproof, it limits gun permits to citizens serving in the military and those who have completed their military service and/or live in terrorism-prone areas such as the West Bank.
Since September, when the latest wave of attacks, most of them stabbings, began in Israel, tens of thousands of people have enrolled in self-defense and defensive driving classes.
One alert civilian disarmed an attacker with his cane, another with a selfie stick.
This vigilance, coupled with a heightened police presence, has reduced terrorism and other types of crime.
An American trauma specialist told me that during the second Palestinian uprising, when even restaurants hired security guards because of terrorism fears, she was shocked to see guards posted at McDonald’s. Her Israeli friends, in contrast, felt reassured by the guards’ presence and the government’s efforts.
One of the biggest challenges facing Israel and the United States is how to boost security without sacrificing people’s civil rights. In September, when the Jerusalem municipality temporarily erected checkpoints at the entrance to some Arab neighborhoods, people called it discrimination.
Like Americans after 9/11, Israelis make a special effort to carry out acts of kindness during these tough times. Noticing that people are staying closer to home, a Jerusalem resident launched a campaign to encourage locals to frequent half-empty stores and restaurants. Others donate or deliver hot food to security personnel or care packages to terrorism victims.
Sherri Mandell, author of
Road to Resilience, advises Americans to reach out to terrorism victims and their families. She said it was her own tight-knit Israeli community that helped her family deal with the murder of her son Koby in a terrorist attack in 2001.
Hard though it is, she told me, it’s possible to live in a place between recognizing there is danger and recognizing there is hope.
Possible, but never easy.