Yemen mail bomb targets gay-friendly Chicago synagogue Or Chadash
Sat. October 30, 2010 11:39 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Chicago, IL -
One of the mail bombs sent by terrorists in Yemen was addressed to a small, gay-friendly synagogue in Chicago.
Or Chadash leases spaces in Emmanuel Congregation's lakefront synagogue on the North Side.
"We have a highly visible lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community and at first we thought that might have attracted attention," Lilli Kornblum, the Co-President of Or Chadash told FOX Chicago News. "But as we learned that more packages were sent, we now don't take it personally, Well, we are taking it personally as human beings and as Jews but it seems we were randomly selected from any number of Jewish organizations in Chicago."
On Saturday, officials in Yemen revealed that a female medical student and her mother had been arrested. The student apparently mailed the packages.
At least some of the packages were made of toner cartridges connected to cell phones and filled with explosives. British authorities said on Saturday that one of the bombs was meant to explode inside a plane during flight, which probably would have brought the plane down.
The United States learned of the threat from Saudi intelligence reports. As of Friday afternoon, cargo shipments from Yemen to the United States had been completely stopped.
Or Chadash was taking extra precautions on Saturday, as were other synagogues in the Chicago area.
Or Chadash leases spaces in Emmanuel Congregation's lakefront synagogue on the North Side.
"We have a highly visible lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community and at first we thought that might have attracted attention," Lilli Kornblum, the Co-President of Or Chadash told FOX Chicago News. "But as we learned that more packages were sent, we now don't take it personally, Well, we are taking it personally as human beings and as Jews but it seems we were randomly selected from any number of Jewish organizations in Chicago."
On Saturday, officials in Yemen revealed that a female medical student and her mother had been arrested. The student apparently mailed the packages.
At least some of the packages were made of toner cartridges connected to cell phones and filled with explosives. British authorities said on Saturday that one of the bombs was meant to explode inside a plane during flight, which probably would have brought the plane down.
The United States learned of the threat from Saudi intelligence reports. As of Friday afternoon, cargo shipments from Yemen to the United States had been completely stopped.
Or Chadash was taking extra precautions on Saturday, as were other synagogues in the Chicago area.