Hostages are Safe, but Questions for Law Enforcement Remain
What exactly happened at Congregation Beth Israel?
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” -Jesus
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Four hostages were taken at Beth Israel Reform Synagogue in Colleyville this past Saturday (1.15.22). I am deeply relieved that the crisis is over and all the hostages are safe.
It feels weird living in or near a place where a particularly traumatic situation—in this case, a terrorism event—has unfolded. Thankfully, these events do not happen very often in Dallas, but when they do they are always unsettling.
I’m thankful that the police and a community of religious leaders banded together in support of the efforts to defuse the situation, and I am thankful the hostage taker, who will remain nameless, will no longer be a threat to anyone, especially to my Jewish friends here in DFW.
While we can take a sigh of relief, a few questions lingered as I watched some of the coverage.
That night, after the crisis had ended, Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller insisted that the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team had “rescued” the hostages after breaching the building, but remarkable footage from WFAA clearly shows the remaining three hostages (one had been set free earlier that day) bolting out the door, two at first, then the third.
The hostage taker then pops his head out of the door, and you can see him wielding a handgun before he retreats back inside.
Later on, the hostage taker’s brother insisted on Facebook that the hostage taker had let them all go.
The video contradicts both the police chief’s and the brother’s stories as the footage shows the hostages making a run for it. And they did this before the team from Quantico ever got into position to breach the synagogue.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who was one of the hostages, said afterward: “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.” He was speaking about the years of training the congregation had undergone to plan for situations like this.
In other words, he credits their training to know when to run. Does that sound like they were set free either by the hostage taker or by the armed FBI team?
This matters because once the team bursts into the synagogue, there are no more hostages, and next thing you know the culprit is dead. Wouldn’t it have been better to take him alive at that point?
Granted, it may not have been possible. He could’ve been firing shots left and right. He also claimed to have a bomb. So far, FBI is providing no details.
The fact remains, the hostages were safe by the time of the breach. I find it interesting, at the very least, that the rescue team shot first and will not be able to ask questions later.
So, my question for law enforcement: Why take credit for something the video clearly contradicts? I don’t want to diminish the all-day efforts it took to get there, but “freed” isn’t remotely accurate. The hostages escaped. And how, precisely, did the culprit die?
My second question is why not be specific about the anti-semitic terror event that the hostage taker had just perpetrated in broad daylight?
Instead of simply stating the obvious, Dallas FBI’s special agent in charge Matthew DeSarno says the subject was “singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community.”
Not specifically related.
What are the chances a Muslim man flies from the UK to Dallas and takes hostages at a synagogue on Shabbat to demand release of Aafia Siddiqui, a suspected terrorist sympathizer and organizer, imprisoned just miles from Beth Israel Synagogue—and it’s not specifically related to the Jewish community?
Siddiqui, who is currently imprisoned in Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, is no friend of Jewish people herself. She once tried to sack her own lawyers because of their Jewish background and demanded that no Jews sit on her jury.
The FBI should have known better than to make such a dodgy statement, especially since they claimed they had been working with the Jewish Federation and Secure Community Network that very day during hostage negotiations.
I should note, however, that despite Siddiqui’s blistering anti-semitism, she has not been convicted of any terrorism-related charges. The incident for which she was convicted had to do with shooting at U.S. personnel in a situation at which the FBI was present.
She was convicted on the testimony of several witnesses at trial, but curiously very little physical evidence was produced.
I know nothing more of Siddiqui’s case and won’t comment any further.
I do hope details will help clarify what remains unclear in this bizarre event, but I am afraid clarity is not the FBI’s strong suit.
Yet, we have much to celebrate and thank God for, even as we pray for the recovery of those who experienced this traumatic event.