OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:26 PM – Friday, October 4, 2024
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on Friday, warning Americans about possible violence and hate crimes that could take place on the anniversary of October 7th, when Hamas terrorists killed at least 1,200 Israelis while abducting around 251 last year.
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“Over the past year, we have observed violent extremist activity and hate crimes in the United States linked to the conflict,” the public service announcement stated.
Friday’s announcement follows the rapid increase in Middle East escalation as Iran executed a missile campaign on Tuesday, targeting nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli military infrastructure after Israel carried out assassinations against Iran’s proxy groups, including Hezbollah military leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“Jewish, Muslim, or Arab institutions – including synagogues, mosques/Islamic centers, and community centers – and large public gatherings, such as memorials, vigils, or other lawful demonstrations, present attractive targets for violent attacks or for hoax threats by a variety of threat actors, including violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators,” the announcement continued.
Following the Iranian missile attack, a senior DHS official expressed his own worries regarding a potential Iranian threat on American soil.
“I don’t know that we’ve got a crystal clear assessment on that at this point. We are literally in the earliest days of trying to understand what exactly Iranian intentions might be. We do, though, assess that Iran has a global capacity and a global capability, that it can draw, that it can target U.S. interest around the world – that it certainly has the reach and capacity to do, to carry out, to engage with individuals here inside the United States in ways that present potential threat to the United States, here in the homeland,” the DHS official stated.
ABC News also reported that U.S. officials are concerned that Al Qaeda and ISIS could convince lone offenders to carry out attacks within the United States and other western allies.
Following the October 7th attacks, hate crimes have sharply increased against Arab, Jewish, and Muslim communities, officials say. Additionally, pro-Israel Christian groups have also faced threats in recent months.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), reports of anti-Semitic incidents skyrocketed after October 7th, recording 2,031 reports of anti-Semitic incidents between October 7th and December 7th in 2023, just within the United States alone.
The incidents marked a shocking 337% increase in comparison to the same time period within 2022.
“FTOs (Foreign terrorist organizations) and other violent extremists likely will continue to exploit narratives related to the conflict to call for lone attackers to conduct violence in the United States. Online messaging associated with FTOs and other violent extremists highlighting the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks could motivate threat actors across ideologies, including those who espouse violent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, to engage in violence. Individuals inspired by this online messaging could act alone to commit an attack with little to no warning,” the PSA concluded.
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