{"id":88272,"date":"2025-12-15T05:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/88272\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:36:18","slug":"deadly-attack-in-australia-at-hanukkah-celebration-resonates-in-north-texas-local-leaders-reflect-on-jewish-community-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/88272\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly attack in Australia at Hanukkah celebration resonates in North Texas, local leaders reflect on Jewish community safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia<\/a> has resonated around the world, including in North Texas, where local leaders say the violence feels close to home.<\/p>\n

Dallas City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, who is Jewish, said the tragedy highlights the tight-knit global Jewish community.<\/p>\n

“We’re targets for no other reason other than the fact that we were born Jewish,” Mendelsohn said.<\/p>\n

She posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the director of a preschool near her home lost a cousin in the attack, and that her son’s rabbi at Texas A&M said his son was shot.<\/p>\n

“Every attack on the Jewish community has felt personal. We’re a tiny population; if you think about all the Jews in the entire world, it’s DFW times two,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mendelsohn said her own home in far North Dallas was targeted<\/a> in February 2024, when her fence was spray-painted with antisemitic graffiti.<\/p>\n

“My home was defaced. I’ve had protesters, I’ve had death threats. And frankly, my security situation has continued to be very escalated,” she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the violence, communities across North Texas gathered to celebrate Hanukkah with traditional menorah lightings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chabad of North Texas held an event in Dallas led by Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky.<\/p>\n

“If there’s ever a time we celebrate lights, it’s necessary when it is darkest,” Dubrawsky said.<\/p>\n

Security at their Jewish events remains heightened, a measure officials say is sadly necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dallas police reported no credible threats but maintained a visible presence at celebrations and community locations.<\/p>\n

“We will sing and dance with tears at the same time. And that’s what we do. God forbid to stop would be succumbing to darkness,” Dubrawsky said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia has resonated around the world, including in North Texas,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28885,102,28519,430,95,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-88272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-hanukkah","11":"tag-north-texas","12":"tag-shooting","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-headlines","15":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}