The Orthodox Union, representing hundreds of synagogues across the U.S., commended the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for foiling a plot to blow up Temple Emanuel, an historic synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado.
The man who allegedly planned the attack was Richard Holzer, a 27-year-old who professed to be a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and said he wished the Holocaust “really did happen.” He also said he had a cook at the synagogue put arsenic in the building’s water pipes and planned to use pipe bombs and dynamite. Holzer’s arrest comes one year after a gunman killed eleven people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue while they were praying, and six months after a deadly attack at a Chabad synagogue in Poway, California.
“We are extremely grateful to law enforcement for stopping what could have been yet another horrific and deadly anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue,” said Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane.
“This latest plot reminds us all that we must be vigilant in safeguarding our synagogues,” said Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Allen Fagin. “The Orthodox Union has been working for 15 years to strengthen security at U.S. synagogues, Jewish day schools, as well as other houses of worship and nonprofits at risk of terrorist attacks through the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program we helped create in 2005. We will continue to advocate for the safety and security of all citizens at risk.”