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America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has expressed concerns as the threats have been rising in the US amid the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the media, "The threat is very much ongoing and in fact, the threat picture continues to evolve...Here in the US, we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil".
The FBI chief said that both Jews, Muslims, and their institutions and houses of worship are receiving equal threats.
The US FBI has urged police chiefs to "stay vigilant" because as first responders, "you're often the first to see the signs that someone may be mobilizing to violence".
The FBI is working via Joint Terrorism Task Forces to mitigate threats and keep these communities safe.
Their officials are meeting with leaders in Jewish and Muslim communities to mitigate the threats.
Police in US cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by antisemitic or Islamophobic sentiments. FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase in hateful and threatening rhetoric.
Yesterday, a man in Illinois stabbed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and wounded a 32-year-old woman. US President Joe Biden condemned the killing of a Muslim boy as a "horrific act of hate" on Sunday. The child was stabbed 26 times by his landlord on Saturday and later died at the hospital, while his 32-year-old mother was also wounded but expected to survive.
The Muslim civil liberties organization called the crime “our worst nightmare” and part of a disturbing spike in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The group cited text messages exchanged among family members that showed the attacker had made disparaging remarks about Muslims.
A senior FBI official told the Associated Press that the majority of the threats that the FBI has responded to were not judged to be credible, adding that the FBI takes them all seriously nonetheless.
The official also said that agents have been encouraged to be “aggressive” and proactive in communicating over the last week with faith-based leaders. The official said the purpose is not to make anyone feel targeted but rather to ask clerics and others to report to law enforcement anything that seems suspicious.
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