Bomb threats were leveled against Jewish community centers across the United States on Tuesday, although a suspect was arrested last week for making threats against several centers.
Brief evacuations were reported at JCCs in several states, including Wisconsin, New York and Florida. The JCC Association of North America said it “confirms” a “developing situation in which several JCCs have received either emailed or phoned-in bomb threats overnight and this morning.”
Threats were also made at Anti-Defamation League offices in Atlanta, Boston, Washington and New York.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reacted to Rochester and Syracuse-area JCC bomb threats by calling on state police to coordinate with federal and local law enforcement to start a full investigation.
“These incidents go against every tenet of our state’s tradition, and we will continue to send a strong message that New York has zero tolerance for intolerance,” he said.
“This is not ‘normal.’ We will not be deterred or intimidated,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, adding that Tuesday’s threats against ADL sites and JCCs add to the 121 threats received since January.
One suspect, former Intercept employee Juan Thompson, was arrested last week for making bomb threats against ADL’s New York headquarters and eight Jewish community centers while trying to “harass and intimidate” a former girlfriend.
Greenblatt also asked the government to take action. “It is time for action, and we call on the administration and Congress to take concrete steps to catch those threatening the Jewish community,” he said.
On Tuesday, all 100 senators signed onto a letter from Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that calls on the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department and FBI to take “swift action” against the threats.
Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., also have called for a congressional hearing on the “unprecedented” number of threats and attacks, including acts of vandalism that have hit Jewish cemeteries. The senators proposed legislation that would double the federal felony against fake bomb threats and calls for $20 million in additional funding to the Department of Homeland Security that would go toward safeguarding faith-based community centers.
President Trump decried the threats and acts of vandalism against Jewish centers during his speech to Congress last week.
“Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” Trump said.
