Bomb Threat Sent to Nearly Two Dozen Jewish NYC Sites

(BrightPress.org) – Bomb threats were emailed to three New York City synagogues and the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, May 4th. The emails warned of a bomb someone had “set inside of your building.” The threats said the bomb was not fake and would need to be disarmed within a “few hours” or “blood would shatter everywhere.” The emails credit a group called “Terrorizers111” for the threat.

Congregation Rodeph Sholom on W. 83rd St. received the first threat around 3:15 pm. The building was evacuated while police searched for explosive devices. No bombs or explosives were found during the search.

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah on W. 30th St received the second unfounded threat just over an hour later. Brooklyn Heights Synagogue on Remsen St. received a similar emailed bomb threat about 45 minutes later. The email received by the Brooklyn Museum around 5:30 pm claimed explosives had been placed on nearby subway lines. Police searched all locations and no explosives were found.

According to a Jewish philanthropic organization, the emailed threats were part of a mass email sent by a single person that targeted 24 Jewish houses of worship, fourteen of which are located in Manhattan.

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise since Hamas attacked Israel in October of 2023. Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City have risen by 45%. Anti-Israel protesters were very recently removed from Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in Manhattan where an encampment had also been erected on the campus lawn. Similar protests, some escalating to violence, are occurring on college campuses nationwide.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the number of threats at synagogues in NY is being “actively monitored.” She continued in a social media statement to confirm the threats were not credible, and that NY would not tolerate the “sowing of fear and antisemitism.”

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Beit Simchat Torah synagogue said, “We can’t let the haters win” as she encouraged the Jewish community to come together against those who wish to “terrorize us into isolation.”