Is it safe? Overreaching against terrorism

“We are safer today as a result of these convictions.”

So proclaimed U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan after four Newburgh, N.Y., men were convicted of plotting to bomb two shuls in the Bronx’s Riverdale section and firing missiles at military planes taking off from a base outside Newburgh.

These guys deserved to be convicted, but they needed to conspire with the FBI to commit these crimes. They were motivated to murder their fellow Americans in the name of Allah, but they lacked for supplies and skills until an FBI informant guided them through the process and provided them with the deactivated bombs and missiles to carry out this terrorist act. Are we safer?

In Brooklyn and Manhattan, sizeable crowds outmatched five members - count ‘em, five - of the Westboro Baptist Church who taunted Jews and gays in a series of demonstrations. The Westboro gang tends to be outnumbered wherever they go. Are we safer?

In Jerusalem, the Israeli government decided to require new citizens who are not Jewish to pledge loyalty to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Is Israel safer?

They are all legitimate concerns - homegrown terrorism, bigotry and potential treason. However, each situation constitutes a sideshow which distracts attention from the main issue, wastes resources and potentially bring about new problems.

The FBI responded to the bomb plot in a manner likely designed to make a big splash - four would-be terrorists nabbed in one of the few plush outer-borough neighborhoods left in New York City. Newspaper reports, quoting some unnamed sources, suggested that the feds had a solid case when the defendants picked up the bombs and missiles in Stamford, Conn., which would have precluded any need to follow through with the mock bombings in Riverdale.

Most galling was Bharara’s self-congratulatory words on Oct. 18: “Homegrown terrorism is a serious threat, and today’s convictions affirm our commitment to do everything we can to protect against it.” The FBI moved further than “everything” in counteracting terrorism. Media reports noted that the FBI picked the neighborhood for the crimes and relayed that choice to the defendants through their informant.

As one letter-writer asked, why Riverdale? Westchester County, located between Riverdale and upstate Newburgh, is home to dozens of large, expensive synagogues. Surely the FBI would never choose Riverdale where a “terrorist” act in New York would magnify the event and broadcast to the world that the FBI was doing “everything we can to protect against it.”

Many NYC police officers provided backup when they could have been deployed elsewhere in the city stopping real crimes.

Finally, the FBI endangered the lives of every person in the vicinity by taking the case this far. Suppose one of these guys shot up the street and shot a resident passing by the scene. The FBI made provisions to prevent a shootout, but what if they missed something? Anything could have gone wrong and they should have known that.

The five members of the Westboro Baptist Church, the same Kansas-based group that protests soldiers’ funerals, were met by 125 counter-demonstrators at one stop, The Brooklyn Paper reported. In one instance, Jewish Assemblyman Dov Hikind tried to knock down some church signs, including one reading, “God hates Israel,” according to The New York Jewish Week.

Good people should respond even when such a strange, bigoted group is that small, but was Hikind’s reaction necessary? Now the Westboro five can broadcast how they were harassed, and they would be right.

Israel has amended its citizenship oath so it requires non-Jews to pledge their loyalty to a state that is Jewish. Cabinet members are especially concerned that West Bank males will marry Israeli women as an excuse to embed themselves in Israel so they can one day carry out terrorist acts.

Valid concern, but this change in the oath does nothing more than antagonize the Arab world and embarrass Jews in Israel, America and elsewhere. How hard would it be to check out this guy’s background? It would be a big red flag if the guy is already married, and an excuse to deport them.

These actions are examples of overreaching, to put it mildly. It does not make me feel safer.