Jewish leaders on alert after numerous threats made
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- At 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Jewish Federation leaders from across the country dialed into a conference call to discuss the numerous threats made against the religious community.
"It's awful ... let's make no bones about it. This is a terrible thing that's happening," said Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary Chief Executive Officer Carin Savel.
More than a dozen Jewish community centers in the South and Northeast received bomb threats. Some facilities evacuated their members to be safe.
Some of the threats were made with prerecorded telephone calls.
The FBI now has agents on the ground investigating the threats. The Justice Department is also deploying resources to look into "possible civil rights violations."
Though no threats have been made in the Triangle, local leaders are on high alert.
"Anti-Semitism (and) these types of calls and attacks are nothing new. That is why we're prepared here," Savel said.
Officials would not detail their plan, but told ABC11 it's been vetted recently by local and federal authorities.
"They feel that we're well prepared and we are," said Raleigh-Cary Jewish Community Center Executive Director Adam Organ.
Raleigh has the second-highest Jewish population in the state.
The Federation of Raleigh-Cary serves more than 4,000 families.
