Jewish community centers receive new wave of bomb threats

Jewish community centers in cities across the country on Monday received phoned-in bomb threats.

The JCC Association of North America reported that 11 Jewish community centers received bomb threats Monday, including centers in Chicago, Buffalo, Houston and Tampa. The threats “were determined to be hoaxes.”

“Our JCCs are strongly rooted in communities across the country,” David Posner, director of strategic performance at JCC Association of North America, said in a statement.

{mosads}”We will not be cowed by threats intended to disrupt people’s lives or the vital role Jewish community centers play as gathering places, schools, camps, and fitness and recreation centers.”

Posner said the association is in “regular communication with the FBI, which is investigating these threats.”

The White House responded to the latest wave of bomb threats, saying hatred has no place in the country.

{mosads}”Hatred and hate-motivated violence of any kind have no place in a country founded on the promise of individual freedom,” the White House said in a statement, according to an NBC News reporter.

“The President has made it abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable.”

President Trump’s elder daughter, Ivanka Trump, responded on Twitter, saying, “America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers.”

America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 20, 2017

She and her husband, senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, are Jewish. 

Many Jewish community centers have received bomb threats since the beginning of the year.

The JCC Association of North America reported that since the beginning of the year, there have been 69 incidents at 54 JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province. All bomb threats were determined to be hoaxes.

Other locations that have received calls include centers in Manhattan, Long Island and New Jersey.

During a press conference last week, President Trump clashed with a Jewish reporter over a question about the rising number of anti-Semitic incidents and what the president would do to address the uptick in anti-Semitism. 

The president in response called himself the “least anti-Semitic person you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”