Pittsburgh police are investigating a hoax bomb threat made to the Tree of Life synagogue, the site of a deadly attack in 2018. The threat was emailed on Tuesday morning and was quickly determined to be a hoax. Gunman Robert Bowers killed 11 people at the synagogue in 2018 and was sentenced to death in June 2023. There is no connection between the 2018 attack and the recent threat. The number of bomb threats to Jewish institutions in the US increased dramatically in 2023 compared to 2022, with 1,009 antisemitic bomb threats counted by the ADL, 906 of which targeted synagogues, compared to only 91 in 2022. The increase in threats is attributed in part to tensions following a terror attack by Hamas against Israel and Israel’s subsequent conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Authorities did not disclose the specific nature of the threat, but described it as a hoax in line with similar threats against synagogues nationwide.
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