At least eight Jewish schools across the UK and six schools in London – some of which are Jewish – received phonecalls threatening bomb attacks on Monday.
According to the IBT, reports claim the schools received calls with a pre-recorded message, with a voice threatening a bomb attack while Arabic or Islamic music played in the background.
Jewish security group Shomrim London claimed nine schools had received the threatening call, reminding the community to remain “calm, vigilant and report anything suspicious to the anti-terrorist hotline”. None of the Jewish schools are believed to have been evacuated over the incident.
The threats are the latest in a series of similar such warnings that have been issued against schools across the UK and further afield.
Following bomb threats this morning to Jewish schools we are in contact with @metpoliceuk & ask the community to remain calm but vigilant
— Shomrim N.W. London (@shomrimlondon) February 8, 2016
According to the Jerusalem Post, the press bureau of the Metropolitan Police Service covering London said that six schools, including non-Jewish schools, had received bomb threats on Monday in the capital, but that all schools had been checked by the police and no evidence of any bombs or explosives had been found.
The police are not seeing these threats as credible, an official in the press bureau said.
Following consolation with the UK police, the CST communal security organization advised Jewish schools receiving this recorded message not to evacuate their premises but to fully implement security procedures along with additional security searches.
Schools in Birmingham also received the bomb threat on Monday, while schools in Glasgow received similar warnings last week, and last month several schools were evacuated in different parts of the UK after also reviving bomb threats, as were five schools in Paris.
Fifteen schools in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras) also received bomb threats on Monday.
Last week, the CST reported that 2015 had seen the third-highest number of anti-Semitic hate incidents ever in one year in the UK, totaling 924 attacks including abusive behavior, verbal abuse, anti-Semitic graffiti, some minor physical attacks and four serious violent assaults.
Christians United for Israel UK
