Hate crimesJewish cemetery vandalized in Philadelphia, JCCs hit with fifth wave of bomb threats

A number of Jewish day schools and community centers were targeted by bomb threats across the United States on Monday, a day after a Jewish cemetery was vandalized in Philadelphia.

The threats were directed at Jewish community centers in Asheville, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Tarrytown and Staten Island, New York; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware, The Times of Israel reported.

Jewish day schools were also targeted in Rockville, Maryland; Fairfax, Virginia; and Davie, Florida.

The buildings were evacuated and several were given the all-clear by law enforcement. Authorities have begun investigating the new wave of threats, the fifth of its kind directed at American Jewish institutions since 9 January.

According to the JCC Association of North America, there have been 89 bomb threats made against 72 Jewish community centers and day schools in 30 U.S. states and Canada since the start of 2017, NBC News reported. To date, no explosives have been found in any of the threatened institutions.

Paul Goldenberg, director of the Secure Community Network, which is affiliated with the Jewish Federations of North America, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that his organization was coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to catch the perpetrators and stop the threats.

Goldenberg called the continuing threats “disturbing,” but praised the Jewish institutions for handling them in “an exemplary manner.”

“Our Jewish schools and our JCCs continue to train for this, continue to execute well-placed measures,” Goldenberg added, describing the staff at these institutions as “vigilant.”

“The goal of these people is to wear us down,” Goldenberg said. “But we are back in our schools, we are back in our JCCs.”

On Sunday, at least 100 headstones in a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia were damaged by vandals, police initially told WPVI-TV. Volunteers helping with the cleanup said that they counted more than 500 damaged headstones.

“There are people from Quaker, Muslim, Jewish communities,” a local rabbi told the station while participating in the cleanup effort. “Some rabbis, my colleagues, we just heard about this, thanks to your reporting, and came out here out of the desire to be in solidarity to show that we’re not interested in any narrative about victimization and – as heartbreaking as this is – we are strong together.”

The incident comes nearly a week after a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was targeted by vandals.

“My heart breaks for the families who found their loved ones’ headstones toppled this morning,” Philadelphia’s Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. “We are doing all we can to find the perpetrators who desecrated this final resting place, and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

His sentiments were echoed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, who called the vandalism “truly reprehensible” and asked “the Pennsylvania State Police and Office of Homeland Security to offer their full resources towards protecting these institutions and finding those responsible.”

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that President Donald Trump “continues to be deeply disappointed and concerned over reports of further vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. The cowardly destruction in Philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from Missouri and threats against Jewish community centers.”

He added that Trump “continues to condemn these and any other form of anti-Semitic and hateful acts in the strongest terms. No one in America should feel afraid to follow the religion of their choosing freely and openly.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York has also ordered an investigation into bomb threats against Jewish institutions in his state, vowing that “the full force of government will be brought to bear in these efforts and these perpetrators will be punished.”

David Posner, an official with the JCC Association of North America, stated that “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.”

B’nai B’rith International, meanwhile, called on the Justice Department to “appoint a special coordinator on domestic anti-Semitism.”

Over 52 percent of all anti-religious hate crimes in the U.S. were directed at Jewish targets in 2015, the latest year for which FBI statistics are available.

This article is published courtesy of The Tower