Three synagogues in New York City and the Brooklyn Museum were reportedly subjected to false bomb threats on Saturday.
Congregation Rodeph Sholom in the Upper West Side received a bomb threat around 3:15 p.m. and was subsequently evacuated, police told the New York Post. The threat was ultimately unfounded, police confirmed.
Then another bomb threat, which was also determined to be false, was reported at the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which is “progressive” and “LGBTQ-friendly,” according to the report. No one was inside the synagogue at the time of the threat, police said.
At 5:15 p.m., another bomb threat was reported at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. Police said three employees were evacuated, and the threat was, again, unsubstantiated.
Fifteen minutes later, another bomb threat was reported at the Brooklyn Museum, which is an art museum in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, according to the report. Police also found that threat to be false.
Police said it is currently unclear if the various bomb threats are connected, and the threats remain under investigation.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) issued a statement on X announcing that her office is “actively monitoring” the threats with law enforcement.
We are actively monitoring a number of bomb threats at synagogues in New York. Threats have been determined not to be credible, but we will not tolerate individuals sowing fear & antisemitism. Those responsible must be held accountable for their despicable actions.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 4, 2024
“We are actively monitoring a number of bomb threats at synagogues in New York. Threats have been determined not to be credible, but we will not tolerate individuals sowing fear & antisemitism. Those responsible must be held accountable for their despicable actions,” Hochul said.
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council [JCRC] of New York, told the Post that the bomb threats are a “dangerous escalation of what we’ve already been seeing in the rest of the country.”
“This is not peaceful, this is not lawful and this is not normal and this is happening on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day,” said Treyger, who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
“[There is] zero room for hate in New York City and those responsible must be held accountable. Full stop,” he said.
Treyger added that such threats are “not isolated from the bigger, hostile climate right now against Jewish people.”
And while he thanked law enforcement and local and state officials for monitoring the situation and communicating with the Jewish community, he said the amount of security they have needed to practice their faith in a safer way is “not normal.”
“We cannot normalize that in New York City in the year 2024 … we will never accept this as normal in New York, in the United States of America,” he said.
New York City Police Department data obtained by the Post showed a 45 percent increase in antisemitic hate crimes in 2024. NYPD recorded 96 anti-Jewish incidents across the city, compared to 66 in the same time period in 2023.
“The troubling numbers account for antisemitic crimes occurring from Jan. 1 through April 14 — months after Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,” according to the report.
