(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the organization is monitoring for threats against Jewish Americans ahead of the Passover holiday, adding that the number was already high before Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
He also mentioned the FBI’s work investigating anti-Jewish crimes while speaking at an event on Apr. 17, 2024, hosted by the Secure Community Network, the largest Jewish security organization on the continent, according to The Hill.
“Today, we at the bureau remain particularly concerned that lone 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,” he said.
The FBI’s antisemitic crime probes tripled in the three months following Oct. 7, 2023, compared with the four months before, Wray said.
“Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 30 of this year, we opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the four months before Oct. 7. And of course, that’s on top of what was already an increase from the previous year,” he said.
Additionally, he said the threats are present not only domestically but overseas as well.
“We’ve seen — since Oct. 7 – a rogues’ gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against the United States and our allies,” he said, pointing to increased hoax threats like “bomb and active shooter threats.”
The news source reported that antisemitic incidents reached a record last year, particularly following Oct. 7., 2023.
According to an annual survey by the Anti-Defamation League, there were more than 8,800 antisemitic incidents last year, among which were harassment, vandalism and assaults.
The news source also said that the data shows a 140% spike from 2022, with around 5,200 incidents occurring after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
“Antisemitism is nothing short of a national emergency, a five-alarm fire that is still raging across the country and in our local communities and campuses,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, said.
