Jewish Community Centers in Several States Targeted by Bomb Threats

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Jewish community centers in several U.S. states were evacuated on Monday after they reported receiving bomb threats, according to the organizations’ social media accounts and local media reports. No attacks or injuries were immediately reported.
Kaplen JCC in Tenafly, New Jersey, said on its Facebook page that it received a bomb threat in the afternoon and had reopened as of 2:00 p.m.
“The police have completed a thorough sweep of the JCC and have deemed the threat not credible and the building safe,” the center said.
Bender JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, Maryland, said it had also reopened after receiving a threat and being swept by local authorities.
“The building was inspected and found to be all clear,” it said.
Other centers that received threats included ones in Miami Beach, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; and Nashville, Tennessee, according to local media reports.
Jewish community centers typically offer after-school activities, fitness programs and an array of other services.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
