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US Jewish Community Centres targeted with bomb threats

The Jewish Secure Community Network (SCN) said that some of the calls had been made by real people, others by robots.

February 1, 2017 19:39
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At least 17 Jewish community centres across the United States were targeted with bomb threats yesterday, the third time in recent weeks that a spate of simultaneous warnings have been received.

The Jewish Secure Community Network (SCN) said that some of the calls had been made by real people, others by robots.

“In the past we know that the numbers can grow exponentially,” said Paul Goldenberg from the SCN. He added that perpetrators were able to use new technologies to make mass calls. “We must remain a resilient community and we need to ensure that we are back at our JCCs as soon as local police advise the all-clear,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

On January 9, 16 JCCs were threatened and on January 18, another 30 were targeted.  Each threat triggered the evacuation of the centre concerned. A message on the Facebook page of the JCC in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said the police suspected that the threats to JCCs around the country originated “from a single source”