This Thursday evening at Beyachad, representatives of the various Jewish communal organisations will be coming together for a security briefing, taking place under the auspices of the Board and the CSO. Both the chairman of the CSO and I will be speaking, followed by a question and answer session. As explained in our letter of invitation, the aim of the meeting is to appraise the communal leadership of the current global terror situation, and how it affects South Africa and SA Jewry. We believe that in light of recent developments, both at the local level and internationally, have made it imperative for us to relook our existing security structures and practices, and identify where and how these should be adapted to meet our needs in the environment in which we find ourselves today.
It is a global reality that Islamic State (IS) has metamorphosed from a Middle East-based operation to one that now seeks to carry out terrorist attacks everywhere in the world. South Africa is not immune from this threat, and while we have to date mercifully been spared any IS-inspired attacks in our country , recent events – including the warnings issued by the US and other countries during the last few months, the reality that at least some South Africans have left the country to join IS and last week’s arrests of four people in Johannesburg on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks - underline how important it is for us to monitor our ever-changing environment and adapt our strategies accordingly. Ultimately, each one of our organisations has to take responsibility for improving its own security, working in conjunction with all the other security organisations. The upcoming meeting will brief our affiliates on the current situation, make appropriate recommendations and provide guidelines as to how each organisation can implement them.