Jewish community centres across the United States were targeted by bomb threats on Monday, on the same day as headstones were vandalised in a Jewish cemetery.
In the latest in a string of simultaneous threats made by phone, 11 JCCs, including those in Chicago and Houston, were evacuated, causing fear and confusion.
Initially, President Donald Trump made no personal comment about the threats. Instead, the White House press secretary made a statement saying: “hatred and hate-motivated violence of any kind have no place in a country founded on the promise of individual freedom”.
On Tuesday, however, Mr Trump specifically denounced antisemitism during a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
He told MSNBC : “Antisemitism is horrible and it’s going to stop and it has to stop."
President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who converted to Judaism, also urged tolerance. In a tweet she wrote: “America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centres.”
Neither the press statement nor Ms Trump’s tweet specifically mentioned the Jewish institutions.
Since the new year there have been 69 bomb threats received by Jewish centres on four different days.
Mark Shapiro and Jamie Miller who run the Jewish centre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said their centre had been evacuated under an “abundance of caution”, following a threat on Monday. They urged locals not to stop using the centre, which was also targeted last month.
“The JCC depends on the community to choose us for recreational, educational, camping fitness and cultural programmes,” they wrote on the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Centre’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile, police were also investigating the vandalism of more than 100 headstones in a Jewish cemetery in St Louis, Missouri. The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, called the incident “another revolting manifestation of antisemitism on the same day when we’re dealing with bomb threats”.
Numerous headstones at Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery were pushed over and plots were damaged. Police said they were investigating the incident but were unwilling to speculate whether the damage constituted a hate crime.
Mr Greenblatt demanded to know why “President Trump has refused to say what he is going to do about rising antisemitism or to even condemn it”, calling the omission “mind boggling”.
“In light of the bomb scares, online harassment, physical vandalism, death threats and other hate crimes, there is a simple question,” he wrote. “What concrete steps will the White House take to address intolerance?”
