Synagogue's heightened security

2:29pm Thursday 8th January 2009

Security staff at Watford Synagogue are on heightened alert following a week of violence in the Middle East.

As Israeli troops continue to fight Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip, Synagogues nationwide have reported a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents.

Watford Synagogue President Allan Solomon said that, although no incidents had been reported, volunteer security guards and police were on a heightened state of alert.

He said: “We have had no problems but unfortunately whenever there are tensions in the Middle East they flow through into local communities – which everybody is dead set against.”