Cuomo: Albany Jewish center among 18 nationwide that received bomb threats

ALBANY — Eighteen Jewish Community Centers nationwide including at least one in New York State received bomb threats Sunday and although no bombs were found, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the intent of whoever made the threats appeared to be to instill fear.

None of the threats were received in Nassau or Suffolk counties, according to police.

“They are trying to create that terror,” Cuomo said from the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center, which received a threat. “We can't let them.”

Cuomo and State Police wouldn’t immediately release how many of the 18 JCCs are in New York State or where they are located. He said only one of the threatened centers was in the Albany area. The centers across the country that received threatening emails were evacuated, searched and then re-opened by early afternoon, he said. No injuries were reported.

The governor said the emailed threat to the Sidney Albert center, which was sent at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, is the 42nd incident of anti-Semitism in the state in the last couple months, representing what he said was a rising tide of hate.

“It’s only getting worse,” Cuomo said of the trend.

The governor visited the same Albany center in 2017 following a wave of bomb threats targeting it and other JCCs including those in Tarrytown and New Rochelle in Westchester County.

“We take every threat seriously,” Cuomo said Sunday. “It’s the threat that you don't take seriously that turns out to be real so we have to take every one seriously and that's what they did here.”

Cuomo said the identity of the sender of the email wasn’t immediately known because it was masked online. He and state emergency services personnel wouldn’t say how.

The threats “went to individuals that had JCC accounts — the matter is being investigated right now, so I want to give [it] a little time to ferret that out,” said Michael Kopy, state director of emergency management services.

“It's so hard to trace emails nowadays because they go through different routers,” Kopy said. “You have international emails that look like they come from some place in the United States. But that would be the next phase of the investigation.”

The governor noted the large number of children who attend activities at Jewish centers, saying that those making the threats "are really threatening children. It is one of the most heinous things you can do.”  He added that the goal of the threats “is fear and it is terror. That is all it is — terror.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.