Mercer Island’s Stroum Jewish Community Center received a telephone bomb threat on Feb. 27. About 250 people, along with neighbors at the French American School and including many children, were evacuated, and eventually reunited with family members.

The Mercer Island Police Department, with the Seattle chapter of the FBI, is investigating the case as a hate crime, according to a city statement.

The incident was deemed to be a hoax, but the fear it inspires is real, especially as it hit so close to home.

The community has responded with an outpouring of compassion, solidarity and support. Many elected officials and community leaders, including Gov. Jay Inslee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, the Mercer Island Clergy Association, the Seattle City Council and 41st District legislators and Island residents Rep. Tana Senn, Rep. Judy Clibborn and Sen. Lisa Wellman, issued statements condemning the attack.

It was one of 31 threats made to 23 Jewish community centers and eight Jewish day schools that day, according to the JCC Association of North America. JCCs in 31 states and two Canadian provinces have received 100 bomb threats so far this year, and three Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized.

“The security of our families, our community and our staff remains of the utmost importance to us. We have been working with the local police departments, colleagues around the country and national security agencies to monitor the situation and review our protocols,” SJCC CEO Amy Lavin and Board of Directors President Kim Waldbaum wrote in an email update on Feb. 27. “We stand in solidarity and vigilance with the dozens of Jewish community organizations that received threats over the past few weeks.”

This wave of anti-Semitism nationwide had already incited the local Jewish community to take extra precautions.

“It’s horrible that we have to be having this conversation, but I’m glad that our community was prepared,” said Nancy Greer, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and Island resident. “But it’s sort of like being prepared for the death of a parent; it doesn’t make it any easier when it happens.”

Over recent months, the city of Mercer Island has been working closely with community facilities to plan for these types of incidents, according to the city’s statement. The city “continues to maintain very close contact with all educational organizations on the Island.”

The fact that these “organizations are on alert, and not just in the Jewish community, is an unfortunate new fact of life,” Greer said. Since the presidential election, many organizations have documented upticks in reports of bias and harassment of many minority groups, including immigrants, Muslims and people of color, according to CNN.

The Seattle Jewish community may be more prepared than most to respond to a threat, as the Jewish Federation was the target of a hate crime shooting in July 2006. Pam Waechter, who lived on Mercer Island and who was active in her synagogue in Bellevue, was killed, and five others were critically injured.

“We know all too well that things can happen,” Greer said. “We never, ever want to lose another life.”

Senn was a Jewish Federation board member at the time of the shooting.

“Unfortunately our Jewish community, we have experienced the reality of a threat … So I think there’s a heightened fear,” Senn told the Reporter. “Even if the intent of the people making these threats is not to actually create harm, and just to create fear, the problem is that they can’t control what it triggers for other people. Their threat might trigger someone else’s actions, and that’s scary.”

After the shooting, the Jewish Federation, with Mark Bloome, started an initiative called SAFE Washington. It provides a robust communications network to the Jewish community that alerts participating agencies of imminent threats, dangers and response protocol in real time. For example, Greer said, if a swastiska was painted on the side of a synagogue, SAFE Washington would send out an alert and other pertinent information, such as if any suspicious individuals or vehicles were spotted in the area.

SAFE Washington also provides training for community partners, and develops best practices for disaster response and community preparedness.

“The most important thing is to be educated and aware and to be vigilant, and that’s true of anyone at any time,” Greer said.

Greer said that from what she understands, “with respect to how they handled the evacuation [at the SJCC], things could not have gone better.”

SJCC staff “did a great job gathering up the small children, rounding up the adults and evacuating the entire building safely and swiftly,” Mercer Island police wrote in a Facebook message.

Senn said that there was “good coordination” between local police and state and federal agencies, including the King County Sheriff’s Office, State Patrol and FBI throughout the incident, and wanted to assure community members that these threats are being taken seriously.

She said that Congressman Adam Smith, Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other leaders are “putting pressure on the FBI to fight this kind of anti-Semitism and fear mongering, and to make it a top priority in their world.”

“This is not just about the Mercer Island JCC … With 100 [threats] in a few months, clearly there is a campaign,” Senn said. “The FBI should be the agency that is looking to find where it originated and who’s behind it.”

The FBI apprehended a man believed to be behind a handful of the bomb threats on Friday. However, authorities believe that the suspect was a copycat, and was making threats to get revenge on an ex-girlfriend.

Senn said that other minority groups are also fearful. In a joint statement with Wellman and Clibborn, Senn said that “an attack on one part of our community is an attack on the whole.”

“We need to be reaching out and recognizing that the fear hits home and is real for people,” Senn said. “Whether it’s immigrants, Muslims, transgender kids or Jews, everybody has a story and a reason they’re scared, and we need to support our neighbors,” she said.

More than ever, “we need our leadership to lead,” Greer said. She said that these incidents are “disruptive” and “consuming communities every day,” and making people feel less safe.

“We need our elected officials to stand up and do what is right,” Greer said. “This is not a partisan issue; this is a human issue … For people that went back to the J [Tuesday] and will go back tomorrow, it’s changed. That’s another byproduct of this horrific activity that is running rampant through our country.”

Senn said that the state House of Representatives voted on House Bill 2097, which would protect people from having to disclose their religious affiliation from state agencies and employers and prevent religious registries, the day after the bomb threat.

President Donald Trump condemned the attacks at the beginning of his speech to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28. Before then, the silence from the top had been “deafening,” Senn said.

“Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” Trump said.

In a blog post, the SJCC encouraged its members to contact elected officials to express their conerns, and continue to participate in the J’s events and programs.

“Let’s continue celebrating Jewish life and culture on our terms, not theirs,” it stated.

To learn more ways to help, see www.sjcc.org/blog.

UPDATE:

On March 7, all 100 U.S. senators sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and FBI Director James Comey urging “swift action” to address the growing concern about acts of hate against Jewish facilities across the country.

On March 6, Mercer Island Police Chief Ed Holmes gave an update to the City Council and community on the bomb threat, noting that the department had already scheduled a drill with the SJCC and the French American School to prepare for an incident like the one experienced last Monday. Watch the council meeting here and a five-minute video here.