The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) says all members are on standby and additional personnel will be on call this Monday and throughout the Jewish High Holy Days.

MPD will also be boosting patrols and undercover units around synagogues and community centers amid a global rise in antisemitic violence and threats.

“We will be vigilant, there will continue to be enhanced patrols,” Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters Saturday. “Some that you will see and some of that you will not see, and we will be prepared to call in additional resources.”

The uptick in security had been planned in September in anticipation of the Jewish holidays and the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

“We’ve seen hateful antisemitic acts increase dramatically, and these acts have been in a particularly heightened state around High Holy Days,” declared Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

ABC News reports the Anti-Defamation League has tracked 8,878 antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2023 — the highest number since the organization began collecting information in 1979. 

On Friday, MPD officers arrested 21-year-old Jaden LeBlanc on suspicion of making terroristic threats. 

Police say the day before, he was spotted by Temple Israel security with a gun but left the area. 

Investigators say on Sept. 11, LeBlanc had made several threatening calls to the synagogue using a voice-masking app. 

“The investigation revealed it’s the same person who had been calling the temple, using an app to spoof phone calls threatening to shoot up the temple,” O’Hara explained.

The chief says the incident was not motivated by hate or bias and that searches have not turned up a firearm.

Police stated a meeting was held on Sept. 23 regarding the extra patrols, but they had been planned for over a month and before the threat reports at Temple Israel.

During a news conference Saturday, Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman decried the threats and says the temple has had security measures in place long before now.

“A threat to any religious community is a threat to all of us,” she says. “Every religious community should be able to worship without fear, especially on the holiest days of the year.”

In speaking about the message that will be sent to the congregation, Zimmerman said, “We truly feel proud to be Jewish, proud to be a Jewish community in Minneapolis and proud to have a heritage that is strong and vibrant and beautiful.”

O’Hara says MPD analysts working with state and federal law enforcement are also monitoring online activity in the coming days.

“That’s what we’re most concerned about, is the lone actor or someone who may be motivated by something they’ve seen online,” the chief noted.

LeBlanc is now being held in the Hennepin County Jail.

Charges are to be submitted to the country prosecutor for consideration.

O’Hara says aside from the LeBlanc case, there have been no specific threats against any particular site or person in Minneapolis.

He says his biggest concern is hateful rhetoric, especially online.

“Everyone in Minneapolis has the right to feel safe in their communities, and we will ensure our Jewish neighbors are protected as they celebrate the holy days,” O’Hara says. “We take all threats made against our religious institutions seriously and will continue to hold the individuals accountable who threaten any of our city’s houses of worship.”

Mayor Frey, a member of Temple Israel, says the Jewish community around the world and in Minneapolis is seeing the repercussions of the war between Hamas and Israel.

“When you go to worship as a Jew, when you go to worship as any background, ethnicity or religion, you want to do so with peace,” he declared. “We all have an obligation here. Not just to act with peace but to encourage peace from our neighbors. We all should be saying the exact same thing: people are people, and people deserve to be loved and feel safe.”