New wave of bomb threats hit 29 Jewish centers in US

Monday's incidents are the fifth wave of such threats in less than two months.

By JTA

FEBRUARY 28, 2017 10:39

Police at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas (File) (photo credit: REUTERS) — Police at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas (File)

(photo credit: REUTERS)

At least 29 Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools across the country received bomb threats on Monday in the latest wave of threats to hit Jewish institutions.

The incidents are the fifth wave of such threats in less than two months.

The Secure Community Network, the security arm of the national Jewish community, reported JCC evacuations in Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona; Orange County, Palo Alto, San Diego and Long Beach in California, and Mercer Island in suburban Seattle, Washington state. The evacuations brought to 28 the number of JCCs and Jewish schools evacuated Monday in the fifth wave of threats since the beginning of the year.

CONFIRMED #bombthreats: #JCC in Asheville, NC & upper school of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD
— ADL (@ADL_National) February 27, 2017

CONFIRMED #bombthreats: Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax, VA evacuated and given all clear.
— ADL (@ADL_National) February 27, 2017

Wave of bomb threats called to Jewish commmunity centers across the US , possible antisemitism(credit: REUTERS)

Earlier evacuations in the day were reported in North Carolina, Michigan, Rhode Island, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. They included 13 JCCs and eight schools.

The JCC Association of North America urged federal officials to identify and capture the perpetrator or perpetrators of the hoaxes.

“Anti-Semitism of this nature should not and must not be allowed to endure in our communities,” David Posner, the director of strategic performance at the JCCA, said in a statement. “The Justice Department, Homeland Security, the FBI, and the White House, alongside Congress and local officials, must speak out – and speak out forcefully – against this scourge of anti-Semitism impacting communities across the country. Actions speak louder than words.”