Federal authorities issued a warning ahead of the one-year October 7 anniversary when Hamas terrorists launched attacks on Israel and killed thousands of innocent lives.
The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Counterterrorism Center posted a federal intelligence bulletin warning of potential violence "as well as any further significant escalations" in the Israel-Hamas war that "may be a motivating factor for violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators to engage in violence or threaten public safety.”
According to the bulletin, authorities expect aggression nationwide that may motivate people to engage in hate crimes and provoke violence.
It also warns that terrorist organizations have "lone attackers to use simple tactics like firearms, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicle ramming against Western targets in retaliation for deaths in Gaza. Individuals inspired by this online messaging could act alone to commit an attack with little to no warning."
The expansion of the conflict further into the region could serve as motivation for violence against Jewish, Israeli, or American targets in retaliation for civilian deaths, and we cannot preclude the possibility that threat actors in the United States will react with violence to the death" of Nasrallah.
[Intelligence analysts revealed in the bulletin that the Oct. 7 attack and Israel-Hamas war] "have been cited as sociopolitical grievances influencing some individual's mobilization to violence in the United States. Hate crimes surged shortly following the attacks and have decreased over the past several months to levels consistent with reporting prior to the conflict, a trend that mirrors hate crimes following previous international conflicts or events. Over the past year, we have observed violent extremist activity and hate crimes in the United States linked to the conflict. Jewish, Muslim, or Arab institutions, including synagogues, mosques, and community centers, and large public gatherings, such as memorials, vigils, or other demonstrations, present attractive targets for violent attacks or for hoax threats by a variety of threat actors, including homegrown violent extremists, domestic violent extremists, and hate crime perpetrators who may view the anniversary as an opportunity to conduct an attack or other high-profile, illegal activity.
