(Photo via the Bender JCC of Greater Washington)

The D.C. offices of the Anti-Defamation League and the Bender JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville were targeted today in the latest round of bomb threats called or mailed in to Jewish organizations around the country. Institutions in at least eight states were effected today, following several waves of threats that have forced evacuations and sown fear in the community over the past few months.

Bomb threats were called in to four Anti-Defamation League offices—in Atlanta, Boston, New York, and D.C. “This is not ‘normal.’ We will not be deterred or intimidated,” CEO Jonathan Greenblatt‏ said in a statement.

Someone emailed a threat in to the Bender JCC of Greater Washington shortly before midnight last night, but it wasn’t read until this morning, according to Rick Goodale, a spokesperson for Montgomery County Police. Officers responded at about 7:15 a.m. and swept the facilities, but nothing suspicious was found.

And centers and schools in Davie, Florida; Portland, Oregon; Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; and Syracuse also received threats.

All 100 senators signed on to a letter today urging the Trump administration to take “swift” action. “We are concerned that the number of incidents is accelerating and failure to address and deter these threats will place innocent people at risk,” the senators wrote. “We also recognize the anti-Semitic sentiment behind this spate of threats and encourage your Departments to continue to inform state and local law enforcement organizations of their obligations under the Hate Crime Statistics Act and other federal laws.”

A disgraced former journalist, Juan Thompson was arrested on March 3 and charged with making eight bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers as part of a campaign to harass an ex-girlfriend. Law enforcement officials believe that those calls were “copycat” crimes, whereas other threats have been made using “sophisticated technology” to mask personal details of the caller, the New York Times reports.

Bender, the largest of the D.C. area’s three Jewish community centers, has been among the targets before. At least 300 people were evacuated from the site in early January after someone phoned in a bomb threat and warned of the destruction of Jewish souls; a total of 16 JCCs were targeted on that same day.

And on February 27, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, located just across the street, also received a telephoned threat. Jewish day schools in Fairfax and Annapolis, and institutions around the country were targeted on the same day.

And it isn’t just Jewish organizations; a mosque and an Islamic cultural center in Silver Spring received threatening letters last week.

“We certainly have seen an increase in [bomb threats] in the last couple of weeks, particularly to religious-related facilities,” Goodale said, adding that the Montgomery County Police Department more typically responds to such threats at high schools.

By the ADL’s count, before today, 121 threats had been made to Jewish organizations since early January.

In response to such events, Montgomery County politicians and religious leaders held an interfaith gathering to show support for the Jewish community last week. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, five members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, and members of many different faiths attended.

Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, who serves as the head of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School praised the police department for its response and thanked the community for the outpouring of support: “These are all the lights of joy that held us up in a difficult moment and which give me hope that our community and country will move forward from this difficult time.”