15 synagogues receive false bomb threats in NYC, say officials

False bomb threats were received by 15 synagogues in the metro region of New York City early on Friday (Dec 1), which included two houses of worship in Brooklyn and five houses of worship in upper Manhattan, as per the NYPD and a Jewish security agency.

The police said that the bomb threats were sent through email to five synagogues on the Upper East and Upper West sides, along with Hudson Heights, in Manhattan between 5:15 and 6 am local time and they warned of the presence of explosives inside the buildings, said police.

Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, director of the Community Security Initiative Mitch Silber said that intimidating emails were also sent to two synagogues in Brooklyn.

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“Jewish congregations on Long Island and in Westchester County received the disturbing missives, too,” Silber said, as reported by the New York Post.

“There are multiple explosives inside the synagogue,” read one of the threats, as per the news agency. “These explosives will go off in a few hours and I will make history. I will make sure you all die,” it added.

Contact forms on websites of synagogues used to send mail: police

Speaking to the Jewish news agency, Silber said that most of the threats were sent using contact forms on the websites of the synagogues, and all those emails were not found credible.

As per the police, the houses of worship in Manhattan which were targetted were the Park East Synagogue on East 68th Street near Third Avenue; the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on West 68th Street near Central Park West; Congregation Rodeph Sholom on West 83rd Street near Central Park West; Congregation Ohab Zedek on West 95th Street near Columbus Avenue, and the Mount Sinai Jewish Centre on Bennett Avenue near Broadway.

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Silber said that the early-morning hate campaign was aimed at forcing law enforcement to respond to the houses of worship while making interruptions in their operations.

“They’re really just to disrupt, to intimidate,” Silber said while speaking about the threats, and adding that an investigation will be started and that “there should be consequences.”

The threats were sent as the city saw an increase in antisemitic crimes so far this year, with nearly 275 such cases reported between Sunday and January 1, as per the latest NYPD data available.

The figure marked a nearly 3 per cent increase in hate crimes with 268 of them which were targeted towards Jewish victims getting reported in 2022, according to the statistics.

However, there has been an increase in reports of antisemitic offences in the city, especially since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in early October. 

(With inputs from agencies)