Threats to Jewish Centers ‘Are Not Isolated Incidents,’ Senators Say
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Version 0 of 1. FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — As Tuesday brought another round of threats against Jewish institutions, the nation’s senators urged the Trump administration to take quick action to curb the episodes, which have left Jewish community centers deeply unsettled. “It has become clear that threats of violence against individual JCCs are not isolated incidents,” said the letter, which was signed by all 100 senators and addressed to the attorney general, Jeff Sessions; the secretary of homeland security, John Kelly; and the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey. “We are concerned that the number of incidents is accelerating,” putting people at risk and threatening the centers, the letter said. The F.B.I. has been investigating, and last week, a St. Louis man, Juan Thompson, was charged with cyberstalking and accused of making at least eight of the threats nationwide. The authorities believe that Mr. Thompson, 31, was trying to harass his ex-girlfriend by pinning the threats on her. Tuesday’s round of calls, to 15 Jewish organizations in the United States and Canada, was the sixth since the beginning of the year. In all, 110 institutions have received 140 bomb threats, the Anti-Defamation League said. The threats, along with vandalism at Jewish cemeteries and graffiti of swastikas reported around the country, have raised concerns about a new round of anti-Semitism. While President Trump has condemned the episodes, some critics argue that they are an outgrowth of the vitriol of last year’s presidential campaign, and of Mr. Trump’s tone during it. “We think it’s long overdue for the Department of Justice to announce a fully resourced criminal investigation into these crimes,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. “I mean, these are hate crimes.” Five day schools received threats on Tuesday, and Mr. Greenblatt said it was troubling that the perpetrators were disrupting such institutions. “It is inconvenient and uncomfortable when a bomb threat’s called into our office,” he said. “It’s much more concerning when preschool children are evacuated from their classrooms, or elderly patients are wheeled out of their rehab programs, or teens are whisked out of our after-school programs.” At the MetroWest Jewish Day School in Framingham, Mass., which shares a building with the Temple Beth Sholom synagogue on a hillside about 23 miles west of Boston, the threat interrupted Pajama Day. Students had already filed into class, wearing cozy pants and slippers, with many looking forward to lunchtime because it was the one day of the month when the kosher kitchen offered meat: chicken nuggets, served with fries and vegetables. But the day took a dark turn when, at 9:46 a.m., a staff member picked up the phone and heard what seemed to be a recorded warning about a bomb. “We evacuated all the kids,” said Rav-Hazzan Scott Sokol, the head of the school and a cantor at the synagogue. “We told the kids initially it was a fire drill, obviously not to get them all concerned.” The students swapped their slippers for shoes, found their coats and went outside, where they waited in the chilly morning air for buses to whisk them to another school nearby. “We were prepared, unfortunately, for this call,” Mr. Sokol said. “We were not exactly expecting it, but not surprised that it happened.” After bomb-sniffing dogs cleared the building, the students returned for a long recess and their chicken nuggets. Mr. Sokol was preparing to explain why they had really evacuated. “I’d rather not lie to them about a fire drill,” Mr. Sokol said, “but I do want them to feel safe and secure in the building, which they are.” |