
The scene outside a JCC in New York City’s Staten Island borough following a recent bomb threat. Credit: YouTube.
(JNS.org) Authorities believe that one person is primarily behind most of the ongoing bomb threats against Jewish community centers (JCCs) and other institutions since the beginning of the year.
Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter-terrorism John Miller of the New York Police Department (NYPD) said on the “CBS This Morning” TV program that the NYPD believes one man using a voice changer and phone-spoofing device is behind the bomb threats.
“We have an offender with some technical prowess here,” Miller said.
Miller also described the suspected main offender as a “typical coward.”
“They hide behind the shadows. They work from a distance and their goal is to instill fear. And doing that behind the shadows shows that they’re not willing to come out and confront whatever the issue is. They want people to jump through their hoops,” Miller said.
According to the JCC Association of North America, more than 100 Jewish institutions have been targeted with bomb threats since the start of 2017.
In the most recent incidents, the Addison-Penzak JCC in Los Gatos, Calif., was evacuated following a bomb threat Thursday; the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y., received a bomb threat Thursday; and the Jasa Senior Citizen Center, also in Brooklyn, was evacuated Friday.
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