CLEVELAND, Ohio — Bomb threats were made Monday to Jewish Community Centers in 12 states, the fifth time since the beginning of the year that the centers have been targeted.
According to NBC News, at least 20 centers and day schools received threats in eight states. No centers in Ohio were targeted, although the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood did receive a threat last week.
The wave a threats, along with the recent vandalism of Jewish cemeteries in Missouri and Philadelphia, is causing alarm among community leaders and law enforcement, USA Today reports.
“I have been here more than 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, tells USA Today. said. “There are provocateurs out there who say that if you don’t like somebody, go after them.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, left, helps David Pearl Jr. lift up the headstone of Pearl’s grandfather as he surveys the damage Monday at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia.David Swanson, Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
The Jewish Community Center Association tells CNN there have been 90 incidents at 73 locations in 30 states and one Canadian province since Jan. 1.
None of the bomb threats have proven credible, but Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, is urging Jewish organizations to review safety procedures, CNN reports.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Donald Trump was “deeply concerned” by the recent threats and vandalism. The FBI is investigating the bomb threats, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department will “do what it can to assist in prosecuting anybody,” NBC News reports.
But some Jewish leaders say Trump has not spoken out forcefully enough.
“I think, in large part, the election of Donald Trump let the genie of anti-Semitism out of the bottle,” Potok tells USA Today. “And it’s not going to go back in easily.”
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