Muslim group offers $5,000 reward for info on JCC bomb threats
Council on American-Islamic Relations thanks Jewish communities for their ‘tremendous level of support’ in wake of ‘spike in hate rhetoric’
A US Muslim civil rights and advocacy group has offered a reward for information on the people behind this week’s bomb threats to Jewish community centers across the United States.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted on Facebook on Tuesday that it was offering “a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who threatened to bomb at least 10 Jewish community centers around the nation on the President’s Day holiday.”
In the statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said Muslims must support Jews and other minority groups against bias crimes.
“It is the duty of American Muslims to offer support to the Jewish community and any minority group targeted in the recent spike in hate crimes nationwide.” he said “We hope this reward will aid in the swift apprehension and prosecution of the perpetrators.”
#Breaking #News: #CAIR Offers Reward for Info on Threats Targeting Jewish Community Centers Nationwide(WASHINGTON,…
Posted by CAIR on Monday, February 20, 2017
Awad also wrote of the “tremendous level of support” that Jewish communities around the country have shown to Muslim institutions that were targeted with hate crimes in the past few months.
He noted that “CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in hate rhetoric and bias-motivated incidents targeting American Muslims, Jews and other minorities since the election of President Trump.”
At least 10 Jewish community centers nationwide were reported to have received bomb threats on Monday in the fourth wave of such incidents in a month.
US President Donald Trump has refused to explicitly condemn the threats or the perceived increase in anti-Semitism since he took office.
Last week, Trump was asked during a news conference about the previous JCC bomb threats and what the government’s response would be to “an uptick in anti-Semitism.” Although the reporter did not suggest Trump was anti-Semitic, the president answered by denying he was an anti-Semite and called the question “insulting.”
Shortly after, various Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, urged the White House to issue an unequivocal denunciation of the bomb threats and other anti-Semitic acts.
On Monday, the White House responded to a reporter’s query about the latest string of bomb threats called in to Jewish community centers by saying “these actions are unacceptable.”
BREAKING: @PressSec responds to my request for comment about wave of threats to Jewish community centers. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/2Yq9atnAmt
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) February 20, 2017
“Hatred and hate-motivated violence of any kind have no place in a country founded on the promise of individual freedom,” read a statement attributed to White House press secretary Sean Spicer that was shared Monday afternoon by NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander. “The President has made it abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable.”
On Monday, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, tweeted about the importance of religious tolerance, and included the hashtag JCC.
“America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC,” she wrote.
America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 20, 2017
