JCC in Staten Island Evacuated After Bomb Threat

A Jewish Community Center in Staten Island was evacuated Wednesday after a bomb threat and swastika was found scrawled on a bathroom wall. The threat was determined to be fake, and the JCC re-opened soon thereafter.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday, someone discovered the words “Bomb 11:11 AM” and two swastikas on the wall of the men’s bathroom at the JCC, located at 1466 Manor Road in the Sea View neighborhood of Staten Island. Police were alerted, and they began evacuating the center.

“I was finishing up an exercise class in the gym at about 10 a.m., when someone said the police were evacuating the building because of a bomb threat,” on Staten Island resident, who asked not to be named, told Hamodia. “And when I left the building, there were JCC personnel standing at the door and not allowing people in.”
Police did not find anything suspicious, and within several hours, people were allowed back into the building.

The resident said the area is “a quiet neighborhood, where everyone gets along; in fact, many members of JCC are not Jewish.” He said he can hardly remember a previous anti-Semitic incident occurring in the neighborhood.

Wednesday’s incident came just a few days after Jewish Community Centers across the country, including Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware received bomb threats.