Jewish Federation of Cleveland "Grateful" For Arrest Of Suspect In JCC Threats

BEACHWOOD, OH - A teenager was arrested by Israeli police on Thursday in connection with a series of threats made to Jewish Community Centers across the US. It is yet unclear how many of the threats made in recent months may be connected to this suspect.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland issued a statement on the suspect's arrest, saying, "We are grateful to the FBI, and all other authorities locally, nationally, and internationally who played a role in apprehending this subject. Thank you for protecting and defending our Jewish community and the many community members from diverse faiths and cultures who use our institutions. No group of people should be a target of hate, from within or outside of their community, for any reason. We stand against hate and for unity."

Over President's Day weekend, the Mandel Community Center was one of 10 Jewish Community Centers across the nation to receive bomb threats. Police quickly searched the facility and deemed the threat non-credible.

To read more about the wave of President's Day threats that swept the nation, click here.

JCCs in North America have received more than a 100 threats since January.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed the arrest of the suspect in a statement, saying the arrest was the culmination of a large-scale investigation spanning multiple continents for hate crimes against Jewish communities across the country.

"The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, and we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs. I commend the FBI and Israeli National Police for their outstanding work on this case,” Sessions said.

This is the second arrest in connection with the threats made to JCCs across North America. Earlier this month, a disgraced former journalist was arrested by federal authorities who accused him of making threats to at least eight Jewish organizations, which he allegedly made to harass and intimidate an ex-girlfriend.

Feroze Dhanoa, Patch, contributed to this report

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