Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered an investigation following bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers across the state.
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Jewish communities in at least 26 states have been threatened with violence or targeted by vandalism this year.
York County’s JCC was evacuated this morning after an “emergency situation” was reported.
The Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, N.J., which is also a preschool, tweeted at about 11 a.m. that it had safely evacuated and that police had arrived on scene.
The ADL reports that more than 90 threats or incidents of anti-Semitism within the last two months. “The cowardly destruction at Philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from Missouri and threats made to Jewish community centers around the country”.
The Staten Island and Tarrytown calls came at 9.30am and 10am, respectively, Fox 5 reported.
The Aleph Bet Jewish Day School in Annapolis also received a phone bomb threat Monday morning, Annapolis police said.
The threat was received at 4:19 p.m. local time by a staff member answering phone calls at the location and is the second one received by the ADL, after its NY headquarters were targeted last week.
There was another wave of bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers around the country today.
“On one hand there’s a sense of anger and grief, but also hope because we are seeing people coming together as sisters and brothers to show that the faith communities in Philly and in the U.S. will not be broken by these hateful acts”, said Rabbi Yosef Goldman.
Meanwhile, police in Philadelphia are trying to determine who vandalized a Jewish cemetery over the weekend.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon called the report “shocking and a source of worry”.
He referenced other attacks in the area recently, and added: ‘Evil and hatred must be stopped.
Members of the JCC received a voice mail alert about the incident, they were told everyone is OK and not to go to the center.
Trump’s silence on the issue of anti-Semitic threats has been a point of contention.
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It is heartbreaking for such a flash of fear to overtake a place of strong community and joy that brings together people of all ages under one roof – from the babies in the daycare center to the senior citizens taking part in exercise classes.
