JCC on Staten Island receives bomb threat, 3 locations evacuated, police say

A wave of vandalism sweeping across the country is targeting the Jewish community.

Two Jewish schools in the Washington region received bomb threats Monday, disrupting classroom activities and leading police to sweep the campuses in Maryland and Virginia.

In New Rochelle, the Jewish Community Center of Mid-Westchester, located on 999 Wilmot Road received a bomb threat via telephone.

The threat was called into the front desk of the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC around 10 a.m., JCC of Greater Baltimore CEO Barak Hermann wrote in an email to members.

After the call came in, employees contacted police and cleared the building. Also today, more than 75 headstones in a Jewish Cemetery in Philadelphia were vandalized, as our sister site Gothamist reports.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, officials say students and staff were ushered from the JCC due to a bomb threat.

Nadine Strauss, the executive director of Herzl-Ner Tamid synagogue on Mercer Island, said they had “prepared for the possibility” and evacuated people from the center to the synagogue.

Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania strongly condemned the attacks in statement obtained by LawNewz. Within minutes my office reached local, state, and federal law-enforcement officials to offer the full support of the Attorney General’s office and to assist in a thorough investigation.

The FBI and the Department of Justice told HuffPost previously that they are investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with the threats.

“The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are terrible”, Trump said.

The group described the latest threats as the “fifth wave” observed in 2017. This week Jewish schools in Florida have also received automated bomb threats. For the year, about 90 such threats have been received, including one against the ADL’s NY headquarters.