Natalie Neysa Alund

The Tennessean

NASHVILLE — Bomb threats were reported Monday at Jewish community centers in at least nine states and the United Kingdom and federal agents have been standby in case of any problems, authorities said.

No explosives were found at any of more than 15 locations across the USA, said David Posner, director of strategic performance for the Jewish Community Center Association of North America that has its headquarters in New York. Officials allowed staff and children to return to each of the centers within a couple of hours.

"As of 4:30 p.m.today, local authorities’ investigations in areas impacted have resulted in the all-clear, with most of our JCCs resuming regular operations," he said in a statement. "We are hopeful that all of the JCCs in our vibrant network across the country will resume regular operations by the end of the day.”

A police chief in Tenafly, N.J., characterized most of the calls in the eastern half of the country as a "robocall bomb threat" and said that the one that affected the Jewish community center in his area was different. Last week, bomb threats targeted Jewish centers in central Florida and Marlboro Township, N.J.

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Bomb threats are often used as "scare tactics in order to disrupt an institution's operation and cause fear and panic, but these threats are serious and must be taken seriously," said Josh Cohen, regional director of the Anti Defamation League for New Jersey.

• In Delaware, police were searching the Siegel Jewish Community Center north of Wilmington after it received a bomb threat shortly before noon ET, said Seth J. Katzen, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Delaware. The person who took the call pressed for more information but was given none before the caller hung up.

• In Florida, bomb threats were called into centers in six cities: Boca Raton, Jacksonville, Miami, Miami Beach, Orlando and Tampa, according to law enforcement in those cities.

A bomb threat was called into the Jewish Community Center in Miami Beach, Miami Beach Police tweeted. The all-clear was given at the Miami facility just after noon ET, according to police.

The Jewish Community Alliance in Jacksonville, Fla., also was evacuated because of threats, authorities reported.

The center in the Mandarin neighborhood houses a gym as well as day-care facilities, WTLV- and WJXX-TV, Jacksonville, reported.

"We received a threat to our building, and in an abundance of caution we have evacuated. Authorities are investigating. EVERYONE IS SAFE!" the alliance said in a tweet.

The all-clear also was given at that facility.

• In Maryland, the Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, located in Rockville, received a phoned-in bomb threat. The building, which houses a preschool, was evacuated for about an hour before authorities considered it safe to return, according to Executive Director Michael Feinstein.

"Please know that we will continue to be vigilant and responsive," Feinstein said in a press release in which he also pointed out that the personnel and children have regular evacuation drills. "If you ever see something that seems out of the ordinary, please say something to the closest staff member or security guard."

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore also briefly evacuated after a threat, The Baltimore Sun reported.

• In New Jersey, the Kaplen Jewish Community Center on the Palisades in Tenafly received a bomb threat at noon ET.

"The police have completed a thorough sweep of the JCC and deemed the threat not credible and the building safe," the Jewish community center website said Monday afternoon.

The Tenafly JCC is an expansive building containing a fitness facility, several swimming pools, a nursery school, and dance and music schools, as well as numerous daily programs for individuals with special needs.

• In South Carolina, the Richland County Sheriff's Department said the Katie and Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center received a bomb threat just before 11:30 a.m. ET, WIS-TV, Columbia, reported. The Columbia Fire Department and the bomb squad checked the facility.

• In Tennessee, the Gordon Jewish Community Center was evacuated after a bomb threat was reported just before 11:30 a.m. ET, according to police at the scene.

About 100 people were inside the building at the time of the evacuation, said Leslie Sax, the center's director. A majority were taken to a safe space off the campus, which also serves as a child-care center.

Police gave the all-clear about two hours after the evacuation and allowed people to return to the building, said Mark S. Freedman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

“We’ve taken all the necessary precautions that you would in a situation like this,” Freedman said earlier.

Additional Jewish community centers in Atlanta and Augusta, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Philadelphia also were said to have been targeted with bomb threats, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. But those threats could not be immediately verified through local police and media reports.

The Anti-Defamation League's national headquarters in New York also added California to the states with Jewish community centers reporting bomb threats but did not cite the location affected.

Though anti-Semitic incidents in recent years have been below the peak of more than 1,550 in 2006 — numbering 914 in 2015, the most recent year available in the ADL's Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents — they increased markedly in 2016, Cohen of the New Jersey ADL said without elaborating on the new totals.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will provide technical support for the bomb-threat investigation if needed, said Special Agent Michael P. Knight with the agency's Nashville field division.

In London, the Jewish Chronicle reported the Metropolitan Police were alerted to phone calls made to schools in Roehampton, Ilford and Brent in London, in which it was claimed explosive devices had been planted on the premises. Police went to the schools where they didn't find anything.

As of early Monday afternoon police had found no link among the threats.

Freedman in Nashville said he was aware of threats being reported in the United States and contended that those threats have a corrosive effect even when authorities determine that they are hoaxes.

He said the community center is a place for fellowship for people of many religious faiths.

“This is a threat against the entire community,” he said. “Everyone should be aware of that.”

Contributing: Adam Duvernay, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal; WTLV- and WJXX-TV, Jacksonville; Deena Yellin, The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record. Follow Natalie Neysa Alund on Twitter: @nataliealund