Domestic Terrorism

Report: JCC Bomb Threats Made Using Tech to Hide Identity

Written by SK Ashby

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating threats against Jewish community centers and schools early last month but we've heard almost nothing about the investigation or the perpetrators, until now.

Given that the bombs threats have come in waves rather than at random, it appeared to be a coordinated attack and federal investigators also apparently believe so.

The perps, whoever they may be, are coordinating their campaign and using technology to hide their identity.

[Secure Community Network director Paul Goldenberg] said investigators determined that some people calling in threats were using “spoofing,” a tactic where a call appears to come from a friendly or known source when it is in fact coming from somebody else. [...]

He further added that the perpetrator used “voice masking technology.”

In one threat that targeted the David Posnack Jewish Day School in Davie, Florida, CBS Miami reported that police said someone who sounded like woman with an altered voice called the front office and said a bomb would go off in “ten minutes to three hours.”

Given the sophistication of the attacks, it seems unlikely that they're being carried by unruly teenagers or other adolescents. There have been over 100 threats called into 81 locations nationwide in the first two months of 2017, including 30 threats yesterday alone.

Seeing children evacuated from their schools and day-care facilities because a bomb threat was called in is bad enough, but the next worry is that it may not stop at threats.

The FBI and local police are now investigating a shot fired into a Synagogue in Evansville, Indiana.

The idea that someone fired a round through the window of Evansville's Jewish temple should be unnerving enough, but Rabbi Gary Mazo said the exact location of where the apparent vandal chose to express their hatred makes it worse.

"Someone had to walk into a children's playground, then look into a classroom and then fire some sort of weapon. It was to inflict damage, but I think more importantly, (the person) tried to inflict fear," he said. "We're in this climate now where acts of hate are happening everywhere."

Both the bomb threats and the shot fired into the Evansville temple appear to be aimed at children. The wave of threats delivered yesterday saw small children literally being evacuated in rolling cribs.

A Trump adviser and Trump himself floated the idea that these attacks may be false flags, so I expect them to continue and possibly escalate.