U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday spoke of pervasive "understandable fear" at home in the wake of the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont, a crime that comes amid the Israel-Hamas war abroad that one expert said has "polarized" people "more severely" than any other event.
Garland warned of threats from "domestic violent extremists," direct impact from the turmoil created when Hamas massacred more than 1,200 in Israel beginning Oct. 7.
Garland said Monday there's an "understandable fear" in the U.S. as the Department of Justice investigates the Vermont shooting of three men of Palestinian descent, allegedly attacked by a 48-year-old white man in Burlington.
The Justice Department "is remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism," Garland said.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League has documented a 388% increase in antisemitic incidents since the conflict began. Conversely, Muslim advocacy group the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported a 216% increase in anti-Muslim incidents.
"This conflict has polarized people not only in the United States, but all over the world more quickly and severely than any other event," Susan Benesch, director of the Dangerous Speech Project and a faculty associate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, told The Hill. "Even people who have no personal ties to either side are extremely passionate and agitated about it."
Then there's the rhetoric and introduction of bills from presidential candidates and lawmakers.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., early this month introduced legislation that would prevent Palestinians from entering the United States and "expel" those who entered the country after Oct. 7.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was censured for posting "from the river to the sea," a battle cry of terrorists who want to eradicate Israel, and for accusing President Joe Biden of supporting "genocide" of Palestinians.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last month that the U.S. should not take refugees from Gaza because "they are all antisemitic."
"Much of it conflates Hamas with all Palestinians, and even Muslims, and on the other side, it conflates the Israeli leadership with all Israelis, and even all Jews," Benesch told The Hill. "[That] makes it easy for people who are consuming that rhetoric … to want to take revenge against the people who are perceived by them to be members of the largest of those groups — that is to say, Muslims on one side and Jews on the other."