FBI Director Confirms Hamas-Led Threats Against Americans in the U.S. Now at 'Whole Other Level'
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security and revealed that, due to the Israel-Hamas war, "The threat of an attack against Americans in the United States" has been raised "to a whole other level."
In his prepared remarks, Wray provided more context to those threats: "Since October 7th, we've seen a rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against Americans and our allies. Hizballah expressed its support and praise for Hamas and threatened to attack U.S. interests in the Middle East. Al-Qaida issued its most specific call to attack the United States in the last five years. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula called on jihadists to attack Americans and Jewish people everywhere. ISIS urged its followers to target Jewish communities in the United States and Europe."
In short, Americans are under threat both at home and abroad; not surprisingly, Jews are most at risk from these threats.
During questioning from the House panel, Wray admitted that the threats could be tied to pro-Hamas elements and global bad actors.
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
Certainly we're in an environment where a number of tips and threats that are being reported to us have gone up significantly since October 7. We are already, as I testified earlier, already at an elevated threat environment even before October 7, and it's gone to a whole other level since October 7. The biggest chunks of the threats that have been reported in to us, but a good margin, are threats to the Jewish community. Synagogues, Jewish prominent officials, things like that. We also have a large number of tips and leads related specifically to Hamas and radicalization and recruitment.
As RedState has previously reported, Jews make up 2.4 percent of the total U.S. population but are the target of more than 50 percent of the religiously motivated hate crimes reported to the FBI. And this was before the October 7 massacre.
Worryingly, Wray also admitted at the Wednesday hearing that there are individuals on the terror watch list who may have slipped into the U.S. illegally and whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) asked Wray, "Are there people that you don't where they are that the FBI is searching for today? Yes or no?" Wray responded with a simple, "Yes."
Despite Wray's confirmation that threats against Americans by Hamas sympathizers have seen a dramatic rise in the past six weeks, the official threat level of the United States has not been raised since May 24:
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment. Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland. Both domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those associated with foreign terrorist organizations continue to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks in the Homeland, including through violent extremist messaging and online calls for violence.
It's worth reading Wray's entire prepared statement; surprisingly, there are a lot of good nuggets in there about the precise nature and targets of these threats.
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