Manhattan ADL Office Receives Bomb Threat

MURRAY HILL, NY — The Anti-Defamation League's headquarters in New York received a telephoned bomb threat Tuesday, part of an "unprecedented" uptick in threats against Jewish institutions in the city, officials said.

An NYPD spokesman told Patch that at about 9:10 a.m. a male caller called the ADL's headquarters and said a device inside would go off in about 20 minutes. NYPD, New York state police and ADL staff are investigating the incident. The office is located at 605 3rd Ave.

The ADL's offices in Atlanta, Boston and Washington D.C. were also threatened. The threats called into the ADL were among a slew of similar threats called into Jewish Community Centers in four different states on Tuesday morning, the latest in an uptick in threats that began in 2017.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the increase in threats during a press conference on Tuesday morning at the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, where a bomb threat was phoned in last week.

"We know that new threats are coming in literally as of today directed at other Jewish community institutions around the country," de Blasio said. "We have not seen anything like this in many years – this level of hatred directed against the Jewish community, this many threats."

The NYPD's Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce said on Tuesday that the threats were "coming in at an unprecedented rate."

In total, at least 129 bomb threats have been called in to 98 different Jewish institutions this year, according to ProPublica, which is conducting an ongoing investigation into such incidents. None of these threats have been carried out to date. De Blasio has repeatedly pointed to the election of President Donald Trump as the precursor to the dramatic uptick in anti-Semitic incidents and other hate crimes in the city. The NYPD has said that reports of hate crimes have surged in 2017, compared to the first months of 2016.

The ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called for federal action into the slew of threats that have been called into Jewish institutions since 2017.

"This is not 'normal.' We will not be deterred, or intimidated," he said in a statement. "It is time for action, and we call on the Administration and Congress to take concrete steps to those threatening the Jewish community."

This threat is the second that the office's Murray Hill headquarters have received so far this year. Last week, Juan Thompson was charged with cyberstalking after prosecutors said he called in bomb threats to at least eight different Jewish Community Centers, including the ADL's headquarters, in an attempt to harass his ex-girlfriend. Thompson, 31, allegedly called centers in January and February and made the threats in his ex-girlfriend's name.

According to prosecutors, Thompson emailed the Anti-Defamation League on Feb. 21 and wrote that his ex-girlfriend was "behind the bomb threats against jews. She lives in nyc and is making more bomb threats tomorrow." Thompson called the ADL's office the next day and said that explosive material had been placed in their building. Thompson was arrested on Friday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday that he directed state police to investigate the latest threat to the ADL, as well as other threats made to the two Jewish Community Centers in the state on Tuesday.

"The bomb threats at the Brighton and DeWitt Jewish Community Centers and the Anti-Defamation League headquarters in Manhattan mark the latest pointed assault on the values we hold dear, and we will not allow these types of threats to continue to pervade our society," Cuomo said in a statement. He added that state police were on scene at all three locations.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Ciara McCarthy contributed to this report.