FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday told Jewish leaders that the bureau is on alert for potential threats against Jews before the start of Passover next week.
Speaking during a webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network and sponsored by groups that included the Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Residents of Dover, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Wray said this is "not a time for panic but it is a time for continued vigilance."
"I'm hard-pressed to think of the time where so many different threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at the same time," Wray said. "Today at the bureau, we remain particularly concerned that loan actors could target large gatherings, high-profile events or symbolic or religious locations for violence, particularly a concern, of course, as we look to the start of Passover on Monday evening."
Wray added that the FBI also has seen "a marked increase in hoaxes, both bomb and active shooter threats" aimed at religious buildings and groups.
Earlier this week, the ADL reported that antisemitism in the U.S. spiked by a record 140%.
Nearly 9,000 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism — including more than 5,000 since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and massacre in Israel — were reported across the U.S. last year, the ADL said.
Wray confirmed that post-Oct. 7 antisemitic threats have increased — the FBI opened more than three times the amount of anti-Jewish hate crime investigations from Oct. 7 to Jan. 30 than in the previous four months — and added that 63% of religiously motivated hate crimes were fueled by antisemitism.
"That's almost two-thirds of all religious hate crimes targeting a group that makes up just 2.4% of the population," he said during the webinar.
The director also told Jewish leaders that the FBI is monitoring threats from foreign terrorists.
"We've seen, since October 7, a rogue gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against the United States and our allies," he said. "Al-Qaida issued its most specific call to attack the U.S. in the past five years.
"ISIS urged followers to target Jewish communities, both in the U.S. and Europe, something we're increasingly concerned about following the ISIS K attack we saw at the concert hall in Russia just a few weeks ago."
Wray also reminded the Jewish leaders that Hezbollah has supported Hamas, and Iran's potential for attacks has been highlighted by its recent drone attack on Israel.
"Just over the past few years, Iran brazenly planned or attempted several assassinations of former U.S. officials, U.S. journalists here on U.S. soil and the bureau has been active in flushing out those plots and disrupting them, holding potential perpetrators accountable," he said.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.