White House condemns anti-Semitism
The Trump administration this week denounced vandalism of Jewish cemeteries and bomb threats made against Jewish community centres across America.
The Trump administration this week denounced vandalism of Jewish cemeteries and bomb threats made against Jewish community centres (JCCs) across America.
The condemnation, from White House press secretary Sean Spicer, came hours after more than 20 JCCs and schools were hit with bomb threats in the fifth wave of such incidents this year, and a day after about 100 headstones were found toppled at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia in the second such incident in a week.
The Secure Community Network, the security arm of the national Jewish community, reported JCC evacuations in Arizona, California, and Washington state. The evacuations brought to 28 the number of JCCs and Jewish schools forced to evacuate on Monday.
“The President continues to be deeply disappointed and concerned by the reports of further vandalism at Jewish cemeteries,” Spicer said on Monday during a media briefing.
“The cowardly destruction in Philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from Missouri and threats made to Jewish community centres around the country.
“The President continues to condemn these and any other form of anti-Semitic and hateful acts in the strongest terms,” he continued, adding, “No-one in America should feel afraid to follow the religion of their choosing freely and openly.”
The JCC Association (JCCA) of North America urged federal officials to identify and capture the perpetrators. “The Justice Department, Homeland Security, the FBI, and the White House, alongside Congress and local officials, must speak out – and speak out forcefully – against this scourge of anti-Semitism impacting communities across the country, said David Posner, the director of strategic performance at the JCCA.
“Actions speak louder than words.”
Meanwhile, the recent incidents of anti-Semitism were addressed in President Donald Trump’s opening remarks in his first ever address to Congress yesterday afternoon.
“Recent threats targeting Jewish community centres and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries … remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” Trump said.
JTA
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