Threats and vandalism leave American Jews on edge
The high-pitched, rambling voice on the telephone was disguised and garbled, and warned of a slaughter of Jews. The voice spoke of a bomb loaded with shrapnel and an imminent “bloodbath.” Moments later, the caller hung up.
The mid-January threat to a Jewish community center turned out to be a hoax.
The warning was one of at least 100 that Jewish community centers and schools have reported since the beginning of the year, a menacing pattern that has upended daily life for people in 33 states and prompted a federal investigation that has come under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers, security specialists and Jewish leaders.
Combined with the recent vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in Missouri and Pennsylvania, the calls have stoked fears that virulent anti-Semitism has increasingly taken hold in the early days of the Trump administration.
In a meeting with state attorneys general Tuesday, President Donald Trump suggested that the threats and destruction might be a politically coordinated effort to “make people look bad,” according to the attorneys general of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
“First, he said the acts were reprehensible,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who asked Trump about the episodes during a session at the White House. “Second, he said, ‘And you’ve got to be careful, it could be the reverse. This could be the reverse, trying to make people look bad.’ ”
Jewish leaders Tuesday denounced Trump’s comments, and some urged the federal government to accelerate its investigation of the threatening calls, the latest of which came Monday.
“The person or persons doing this have broken the law, and it’s the responsibility of our system to investigate it and apprehend the individual or individuals responsible,” said David Posner, the director of strategic performance for the JCC Association of North America.
The FBI has been leading an inquiry since January, and a federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss a continuing investigation, said that a single person may be making the threats using an internet calling service. Independent analysts, including extremism researchers and retired law enforcement officials, share that theory and said that, so far, they have see no evidence of an organized effort.
Though some people had suspected that the calls were recorded and automated, there was evidence to the contrary. In Milwaukee, for instance, a switchboard operator asked questions and received responses from the caller, said Mark Shapiro, the president of the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
Posner said an FBI official had emphasized that the investigation was a priority for the bureau, involving experts in behavioral analysis, civil rights and hate groups.
According to Posner’s group, more than 80 community centers and day schools in the United States and Canada have been threatened, some repeatedly. The calls have come in five rounds, most recently Monday, when there were 31 threats.
Many of the calls have prompted evacuations and bomb sweeps, forcing schoolchildren from classrooms and employees to push cribs full of infants into parking lots. Retirees have been rushed from swimming pools, and offices and streets shut down.
The threats are frequent and alarming, community center leaders said.
FBI data shows that most hate crimes are linked to race, ethnicity or ancestry. In 2015, the most recent year for which federal data has been released, the authorities recorded 664 incidents they classified as anti-Jewish.
Analysts said they believed that antiSemitic commentary online before last year’s presidential election had gradually escalated into more sinister behavior toward the Jewish institutions, which have long prepared for threats and often employ private security.
“You started out with the hostile tweets,” said Mitchell D. Silber, who was director of intelligence analysis for the New York Police Department.
“You moved to the bomb threats against JCCs and other institutions, and now you have a physical manifestation at the cemeteries with the gravestones knocked over,” Silber said.