NY Jewish Children’s Museum, California JCC hit with bomb threats

The Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn was evacuated Thursday morning after receiving an emailed bomb threat. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the threat amid increasing anti-Semitism.

The museum was evacuated following a call to the police, AM New York reported.

Devorah Halberstam, the museum’s director of foundation and government services, told JTA the evacuation was still ongoing as of 11:15 a.m.

“It’s a trying time for us as a Jewish people especially, and we need to be aware and we need to take heed, and we need to be careful,” Halberstam said.

She added: “I’m referring to all the threats that have been going on both locally and internationally — it’s something that is very frightening. Unfortunately anti-Semitism has been around for the longest time and I guess things don’t change, now it’s done by emails and phone calls. They use technology to hide behind it.”

NYPD is investigating the threat at the Jewish Children’s Museum. We take every threat seriously. New York City stands united against hate.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 9, 2017

De Blasio tweeted, “We take every threat seriously. New York City stands united against hate.”

Jewish institutions, including community centers and Anti-Defamation League offices, have been hit with more than 100 bomb threats so far this year, all of them hoaxes. Tuesday and Wednesday saw the sixth wave of threats, with 21 Jewish sites targeted in the United States and Canada.

Aside from the Jewish museum, a JCC in Los Gatos, California, near San Jose, was also evacuated over an emailed bomb threat.

Last week, the New York Police Department said that anti-Semitic incidents were up 94 percent in New York City over this time last year.