West Throws Security Cordon Around Potential Jewish Targets

Paris: The conflict between Israel and Hamas militants is making a global impact, with Britain, Canada, France and Germany among nations stepping up security around potential Jewish targets as pro-Palestinian protests break out in the Middle East and beyond.
Police in London on Sunday said they had boosted patrols following the Hamas attack.
“We are aware of a number of incidents … in relation to the ongoing conflict in Israel and the border with Gaza,” the Metropolitan Police said on social media.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned of “zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or glorification of terrorism on the streets of ­Britain”.
“I expect the police to use the full force of the law against displays of support for Hamas, other proscribed terrorist groups or attempts to intimidate British Jews,” she wrote on X.
The French government focused on synagogues and Jewish schools in cities across the country. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sent an urgent message to regional officials to reinforce surveillance, and called for the use of soldiers from France’s Operation Sentinelle, a force deployed across the country since the 2015 terror attacks.
France’s Jewish population, estimated at more than 500,000, is the largest in Europe and the third-biggest in the world after Israel and the US.
Berlin boosted police protection of Jewish and Israeli institutions, while some Palestinian supporters took to the streets of the capital to celebrate the attack.
“In Berlin, police protection has been immediately stepped up,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told Bild newspaper. Authorities were also closely watching “potential supporters of Hamas in the Islamist sphere”, she added.
In the US, several cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston, stepped up security around synagogues.
In Canadian capital Ottawa, police announced an increased presence in areas of religious significance including synagogues and mosques.
In the Middle East, hundreds of people gathered on Saturday in cities including on Tehran’s Palestine Square, carrying Palestinian flags. The Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah staged a rally on Sunday in Beirut amid chants of “Death to Israel”.
Hezbollah said it had fired on Israeli positions in the contested Shebaa Farms border area, “in solidarity” with Hamas.
Thousands of Turks joined a march in Istanbul to back the Palestinians. Israeli and US flags were burned during a protest in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by Houthi militiamen backed by Iran.
In Iraq a pro-Palestinian demonstrations was called in the holy Shiite city of Kerbala Sunday.
In a closed door session in New York, numerous members of the UN Security Council denounced Hamas on Sunday, but the US regretted a lack of unanimity. At an emergency session, the US urged strong condemnation of Hamas. “There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood said.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Mr Wood, in a clear allusion to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine. Diplomats said the Security Council did not consider any joint statement, let alone a binding resolution, with members led by Russia hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas. AFP