Jewish Community Centers have received an unprecedented number of bomb threats this year, 60 in January alone. All across the country states have seen a concerted effort to terrorize JCCs and the communities they service.
In all, 48 JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province received nearly 60 bomb threats during January, according to the JCCA, an association of JCCs. Most were made in rapid succession on three days: January 9, 18 and 31. A number of JCCs, including Orlando's, received multiple threats.
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"I've been in the business for 20-plus years, and this is unprecedented," said Paul Goldenberg, national director of the Secure Community Network, which advises Jewish organizations on security. "It's more methodical than meets the eye."
One of the big functions of JCCs in communities is that they provide childcare and preschool programs to anyone. These programs have been hurt dramatically by the threats of violence as parents have begun pulling their children out of these programs for fear of the unthinkable. As Trump, Bannon, and others have turned up the bigoted rhetoric in our country, the climb in hate crimes against Muslims and the threats against Jewish centers has quantifiably increased. The simple fact is that the far-right groups hate Muslims, hate all kinds of people who aren’t white and Anglo, and having been emboldened by this Republican administration only allows them to spread their form of terrorism in our country.
It turns out that terrorism is real, it’s just not across the seas—it’s in our house.