A wave of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centres in North America hit London for the second time in less than six weeks Tuesday, leaving the head of one Jewish group suggesting the fallout of Donald Trump’s election could be a factor.

Officials are investigating more than 120 bomb threats made to Jewish organizations in the United States and Canada this year.

Another spate of threats Tuesday — all of them, hoaxes — forced the evacuation of Jewish community centres in cities including London and Toronto.

“We are appalled that someone will treat a community in this way,” said Esther Marcus, executive director of the London Jewish Federation.

The London Jewish Community Centre and a nearby apartment building were evacuated for the second time since January after a bomb threat at that complex was called in shortly after 10 a.m.

The bomb threats are part of growing anti-Semitism in the West, said Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies.

The rise is being fuelled in North America both by the far right and by far left movements like Israeli Apartheid Week, said Benlolo, who also singled out recent political changes in the U.S.

“I don’t think we can deny the (impact of the) presidential election of Donald Trump. Since the election, there has been an uptick in hate crimes in general,” he said.

With Trump’s avowed crackdown on illegal immigrants, and promised “extreme vetting” of newcomers, critics have expressed concerns the administration’s hard line only emboldens those prejudiced against racial and religious minorities.

While Benlolo said police do a good job responding to individual threats, he would like to see them empowered to lay more hate-related charges. Many bomb threats result in mischief charges because prosecuting hate crimes requires permission of the attorney general.

“We would like (these incidents) to be classified as hate crimes more readily as opposed to mischief, and we would like to see charges laid more readily,” he said.

In London, three city buses were sent to the Huron Street community centre just after 10 a.m. to keep evacuees warm while officers searched the buildings and reviewed surveillance footage.

Staff, children and residents were allowed to return after the search turned up nothing suspicious.

The London Jewish Community Centre runs a range of religious and educational programs, including two pre-schools and a Hebrew day school. It was evacuated Jan. 31 after a similar threat.

The incidents, combined with the wave of threats across the continent, left some parents rattled Tuesday.

“It’s upsetting that it’s directed at us,” Nechamie Silberberg said while waiting in her vehicle outside the community centre. “In 2017, the idea that anti-Semitism is so strong and (still) happening and so real is just frightening. You’d think we’d learn from our history, but apparently we don’t.”

In Toronto, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, which houses a daycare, was evacuated Tuesday after a bomb threat. Staff and students were allowed back after more than two hours, when nothing suspicious was found.

— With files by Free Press news services

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