Fresh Wave of Bomb Threats Hits Jewish Facilities
Evacuations were carried out on Monday in dozens of Jewish community facilities from Alabama to Pennsylvania following two waves of bomb threats. The incidents happened a day after hundreds of headstones were knocked off in a Jewish cemetery but authorities have yet to establish a link.
The threats began on Monday morning when at least 13 Jewish community centers (JCC) and eight schools in Alabama, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, Rhode Island and Delaware received phone calls.
That afternoon, several centers on the west coast Arizona, Nevada, Washington and California, received the calls. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) office in San Francisco also received a call that afternoon which prompted an evacuation and the closure of a section of Market Street, the Buzz Feed reported.
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The centers were evacuated without incident and no explosive devices were found. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt bewailed the disruption caused by the threats. "These JCCs often house preschools and elder care programs, and they often house after-school activities for teenagers," he said.
On Sunday, a Jewish cemetery was vandalized in Philadelphia in which approximately 100 headstones were toppled. Another Jewish burial ground was also desecrated last week in Missouri where 150 headstones were knocked off. Authorities haven't picked up any suspects in the vandalisms and bomb threats.
The Huffington Post has tracked at least 90 bomb threats received by more than 70 JCCs since January. President Donald Trump has been accused of promoting a culture of discrimination including anti-Semitism as a result of his rhetoric against immigrants.
But Trump denied the accusation, saying that he is "the least anti-Semitic person." He also reacted to the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and the previous bomb threats on JCCs by saying to MSNBC: "I will tell you that anti-Semitism is horrible and it's going to stop. It has to stop."
