Officials are reporting on an alarming spate of bomb threats made against more than a dozen Jewish community centers in the eastern U.S. and the UK on Monday of this week which caused hundreds of people to be evacuated from their communities.

Breitbart is reporting on the threats made against at least 16 community centers in six states on Monday: Miami Beach and Jacksonville, Florida; South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Rockville, Maryland; and New Jersey. Authorities were also investigating a bomb threat in California.

On the same day, similar threats were made against three schools in the UK, all located in London.

“The calls were prerecorded in some cases and live in others, with the caller using voice disguising technology, and likely came from a single source,” indicated Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Network, to the Times of Israel.

The calls all turned out to be false but produced maximum disruption in the Jewish population.

For example, a bomb threat was called into the Gordon Jewish Community Center in Nashville, Tennessee around 10:30 a.m. and caused about 100 people to be evacuated from the building. By 12:20, police determined that the threat was a hoax and allowed people to return to the building.

Nevertheless, “We’ve taken all the necessary precautions that you would in a situation like this,” said Mark S. Freedman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee to the Tennessean. “This is a threat against the entire community. Everyone should be aware of that.”

At about the same time, two Jewish community centers in Miami had to be evacuated, prompting an estimated 300 children to be sheltered on a nearby tennis court at one of the facilities.

Meanwhile, police in the UK were alerted at around 10:30 a.m. local time to bomb threats made against three London schools located in Roehampton, Ilford and Brent.

The threats are now under investigation.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study and Hate & Extremism at California State University told the Tennessean that hate crimes in general are on the rise.

He believes there are many reasons for the increase but says political and social leaders should play a role in blunting the rise in hate crimes.

“We need leadership to condemn anti-Semitism and to condemn those who try to enter mainstream legitimacy while expressing anti-Semitism,” he said. “That goes for any prejudice.”

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