Shore communities stoic as bomb threats rattle JCCs

Bomb threats. Evacuations. Religious vandalism.

Since January, scores of Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) and day schools in at least 30 states have received over 100 bomb threats. In New Jersey, 19 incidents at religious facilities throughout New Jersey have been reported; eight were bomb threats targeting six JCCs

No explosive devices were found at any of the centers, but the sudden spike in threats has shaken communities and, so far, raised more questions than answers, including who is behind them, why they are doing it and why they are doing it right now.

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"This is nothing that we've seen before," Joshua Cohen, director of the Anti-Defamation League's New Jersey office, told the Asbury Park Press. "They've been coming in waves since the beginning of the year. There were bomb threats that were called into Jewish institutions last year, and these happened from time to time, but nothing like this wave."

JCCs: Bomb threats raise old fears

He said that the purposes of bomb threats are twofold - "to disrupt operations and to create fear and panic in the community. This wave of bomb threats, while credible, has created fear and panic in the community."

When asked what he attributed the increase in bomb threats to, Cohen said the recent political climate - a contentious presidential election, the emergence of the so-called "alt-right" - could be a factor.

"Individuals are feeling empowered and emboldened to act out, speak out, commit acts of anti-Semitism in an environment where they may not have felt comfortable to do so," he said.

While the most recent bomb threats represent a sudden spike in anti-Semitic incidents, hate crimes targeting Jews and Muslims were already trending upward in the state even as total bias incidents have begun to decline, an Asbury Park Press analysis of state police data found in 2016.

Crimes against both Jewish and Muslim New Jerseyans spiked in 2015. Religiously motivated hate crimes had been in decline until rising 10 percent in 2015.

Of the victims of religiously motivated bias crimes, Jews were the most common targets with 113 reported incidents in 2015. There were 14 reported Muslim victims and only six targets of other religions.

According to the Pew Research Center, Muslims comprise only three percent of adults in New Jersey, and six percent are Jewish.

Old sickness, new symptoms

"To be honest, I think this has always been our reality, and I think this nation has some unfinished business around race religions," said Elizabeth Williams-Riley, president of the American Conference on Diversity. "It's always been a part of the fabric of our nation, it's why we exist as an organization. So what has happened is the platform has been given to, in a very bold way, folks who can now see their own attitudes and behaviors as being right, or being reinforced, or being celebrated."

Williams-Riley recalled a surge in reported hate crimes following the 2016 Presidential election.

"It was occurring in K through twelfth grades most frequently, which is a tremendous 'ah-ha' for us," she said, referring to reports of students hurling Islamophobic, racist and otherwise discriminatory remarks after the 2016 election. "I've also heard a lot about students feeling more open to say things about LGBTQ students and saying things about them not belonging, and they need to get themselves together."

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American with disabilities have also faced increased harassment under the new administration, she said, because "one of the first things that Trump did was mock someone with a disability," in reference to then-candidate Donald Trump's apparent mocking criticism in November 2015 of New York Times investigative reporter Serge Kovaleski, who lives with arthrogryposis.

Racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, vitriol towards those seen as foreign - none of these are new sentiments. Williams-Riley suggests that kids learn biases at home, in their families. But now that Americans have seen groups like the so-called alt-right eating up airtime and a presidential candidate-cum-president stoke nationalist ire, they have become confident enough to act out on those beliefs. "In this instance, the notion to be openly bigoted or openly biased, to express yourselves about certain things, has been validated," she said.

Politicking in response

Whatever the ideological motivation for the threats, if there even is one, other experts say that the reaction has been extremely political.

"I think the issue here, the reason this has become a bigger political issue, is because for many ... President Trump's response was slow in coming, to the point where we now have all 100 U.S. senators demanding action in response to these anti-Semitic incidents from the White House," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. "That kind of unanimity almost never happens these days, and therefore an issue that might not be political has become political."

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President Trump spoke out against the threats and vandalism at Jewish centers during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28: "Recent threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

To his critics, the denunciation - like his repudiation of former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David Duke - was too little, too late.

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Dworkin urged against ascribing a political motive to the bomb threats.

"That's plausible, but until we capture somebody or until we find an email that says 'somebody is planning this and doing it,' it is simply a plausible reason," he said.

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In the 2016 presidential election, exit polls showed that 71 percent of Jewish voters cast ballots for Hillary Clinton, according to the Pew Research Center. However, Orthodox voters were more inclined to vote for Donald Trump: A September 2016 poll conducted by the American Jewish Committee found that approximately 50 percent of Orthodox voters favored Trump while 21 percent supported Clinton. Fifteen percent said they would not vote.

The president's own daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism before marrying Jared Kushner, who is Orthodox, in 2009.

The Anti-Defamation League has compiled a list of bomb threats against Jewish day schools, community centers and other facilities. They counted 121 total threats in five waves between Jan. 4 and Feb. 27 nationwide - and at least another eight in a sixth wave on March 7.

The fifth wave, comprising only the day of Feb. 27, accounted for 40 bomb threats.

Federal agents have made one arrest so far in the wave of bomb threats.

Juan Thompson, 31, of Missouri is charged with sending threats to eight Jewish organizations as part of a bizarre plot to harass and discredit a former lover.

Thompson is, apparently, no stranger to the untrue. In 2016 online news agency The Intercept fired him after it "discovered that he had fabricated sources and quotes in his articles," according to a statement from the publication.

Garden State threats

In New Jersey, the League counted seven specific bomb threats - three at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly on Jan. 9 and 31 and Feb. 27 and one each at the Jewish Community Center of Central Jersey in Scotch Plains and the Middlesex Jewish Community Center in Edison on Jan. 18, the Jewish Community Center of Metrowest New Jersey in West Orange on Jan. 31 and at the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill on Feb. 27.

On Feb. 27 the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness reported "19 incidents at religious facilities throughout New Jersey," including eight bomb threats spread over six JCCs, but officials would not specify where each "incident" took place.

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Asked for a list of the incidents, Special Agent Michael Whitaker, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigations' Newark field office replied, "The FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division are investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with threats to Jewish Community Centers across the country. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and will ensure this matters is investigated in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this matter is ongoing, we are not able to comment further at this time."

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Police evacuated the Jewish Community Center of Central Jersey in Scotch Plains after the Jan. 18 bomb threat but staff and members were allowed back inside the same day. Still, Sandra Kenoff, director of marketing for JCC of Central Jersey, said it was a worrisome event.

"I think our community was very appreciative of the fact that we were pretty vigilant about our safety practice and protocol," Kenoff said. "Certainly, it's a concerning event to happen to the organization."

The fallout from the threats has brought politicians of different stripes into agreement.

"Just a few days ago you had Senators (Bob) Menendez and (Cory) Booker side-by-side with (Gov.) Chris Christie up in Tenafly, New Jersey, at a rally denouncing ... these incidents," Dworkin said. "In New Jersey we have not seen that kind of politicized response."

Shoreline connection

While the threats have certainly disrupted operations where they have forced evacuations, Jewish community organizations along the Jersey Shore have, at least for now, been insulated from much of the fear and panic.

"It hasn't affected us really in any way practically, though we are more careful about our surroundings," said Rabbi Shmuel Naparstek, who leads Chabad of Jackson. A newer organization, the Chabad hosts 30 to 50 people at its time in its various programs, Naparstek said.

"It has not been a factor in any of our programs or operations," Naparstek said. I can't speak for other organizations but personally it has not affected us.

Elsewhere in Jackson, opponents of an ordinance that would ban dormitories have denounced it as anti-Semitic. They say the ordinance directly targets the township's Orthodox Jewish community, a specific subset of Jackson's larger Jewish population.

"I personally have not encountered any of that animosity, and I really don't see that as being any factor," Naparstek said when asked if there may be escalating anti-Semitic sentiment in Jackson.

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In Freehold Borough the Freehold Jewish Center reached out to local police, just to be on the safe side.

"I cannot tell you how good they've been," Executive Director Marvin Krakower said of police in the borough and township.

"Thank God, we haven't seen anything yet, but there's been additional swastikas and threats," Krakower said. "It's just bringing out the worst right now - but most people in this country are good."

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Krakower applauded President Trump and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent denunciations of anti-Semitism, and that more politicians should "step up to the plate."

Meanwhile, Cohen of the Anti-Defamation League's New Jersey office said it is imperative to investigate any such threats when they come in.

"We take these incidents very seriously, and we continue to work with our federal and local law enforcement partners, in addition with our local law enforcement partners," Cohen said.

Alex N. Gecan: 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com

The USA Today Network contributed to this report.