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Your view: Gov. Wolf needs to resign

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; As people from around the state prepared to gather in Philadelphia today to protest a recent series of threats and attacks against Jewish centers and cemeteries, local leaders declined to reveal any plans to guard against similar attacks.</p><p>Jewish Community Centers and day schools in at least a dozen states &#8212; including several in Pennsylvania &#8212; received threats, according to the JCC Association of North America. No bombs were found.</p><p>Some 21 buildings across the country &#8212; 13 community centers and eight schools &#8212; were damaged by vandalism and had resumed normal operations, the association said. In Philadelphia, plans were made to repair and restore hundreds of headstones at a Jewish cemetery.</p><p>Rabbi Roger Lerner at Temple B&#8217;nai B&#8217;rith in Kingston will participate in today&#8217;s &#8220;Stand Against Hate&#8221; event in Philadelphia.</p><p>&#8220;Anyone who would destroy a cemetery and desecrate the dead or call in a bomb threat is cowardly and deranged,&#8221; Lerner said. &#8220;And they need help.&#8221;</p><p>The &#8220;Stand Against Hate&#8221; rally will take place at noon on Independence Mall. Gov. Tom Wolf is slated to attend the event, which was organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.</p><p>&#8220;My intention is to participate in the program in Philadelphia on Thursday,&#8221; Lerner said. &#8220;As far as any response to this terror that is being inflicted on the Jewish community, I would rather not comment.&#8221;</p><p>Reports said the latest attacks marked the fifth round of bomb threats against Jewish institutions since January, prompting outrage and exasperation among Jewish leaders as well as calls for an aggressive federal response. The FBI and the Justice Department&#8217;s Civil Rights Division are probing the threats, it was reported.</p><p>In an emailed news release, Gov. Wolf said some 200 people were evacuated from a Jewish Community Center in York after a caller told the front desk there was a bomb in the building. Melissa Plotkin, the York JCC&#8217;s director of community engagement and diversity, said police entered the building and cleared it.</p><p>Wolf, who has ties to the York center, having served on its board, called the bomb threats and cemetery vandalism reprehensible.</p><p>&#8220;These acts are cowardly and disturbing,&#8221; Wolf told reporters. &#8220;We must find those responsible and hold them accountable for these hate crimes.&#8221;</p><p>The governor noted that he has asked state police and Homeland Security to devote &#8220;their full resources toward protecting these institutions.&#8221;</p><p>Wolf said &#8220;the silver lining in all of this&#8221; is that &#8220;we have seen the best of Pennsylvania in response to these disgraceful acts.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A visitor looks at damaged headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Scores of volunteers are expected to help in an organized effort to clean up and restore the Jewish cemetery where vandals damaged hundreds of headstones. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_115284990-4a7c11b86a9f43ba964a4f060e8888c0-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>A visitor looks at damaged headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Scores of volunteers are expected to help in an organized effort to clean up and restore the Jewish cemetery where vandals damaged hundreds of headstones. </caption0><photoCredit0>(AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma) </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Bomb threats at Jewish sites have Northeastern Pa. leaders concerned