Although no credible threat was reported, CBS News reviewed several internal bulletins and law enforcement security assessments circulated in the past 48 hours that warned that domestic and domestic violent extremists are likely mobilizing in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict become.
An NYPD intelligence analyst referred to Hamas’ recent call to action calling it “Al-Aqsa Flood Friday” and warned: “The group has called for a ‘Day of Rage’ on several occasions in the past “has led to large demonstrations” and unrest in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Nonetheless, these recent statements have the potential to incite and trigger reactionary unrest and exploitative violence beyond the region, requiring increased vigilance on the part of law enforcement personnel.”
The assessments include private intelligence analysis, including recent work by the Insikt group, which describes itself as a team of experienced threat researchers. “Violent extremists in North America, Europe and Australia are likely planning physical attacks and increasing virtual harassment campaigns against Jewish and Muslim communities – and organizations associated with them – in the wake of the Hamas action of October 7, 2023. “Hybrid attack and incursion into Israel and Israel’s military response,” the report said.
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The group said it was not currently aware of any specific or credible terrorist threat, “but actors associated with violent extremist movements outside the conflict zone have called for broader mobilizations since the start of the raid.”
Insikt says escalations in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians have in the past led to violence against Western Jewish communities, targeting “houses of worship, community centers, government facilities and public demonstrations.”
Internally, law enforcement has sent out previous guidance from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) on mitigating risks and threats to houses of worship and reiterated the importance of consistent outreach to faith groups.
In a briefing led by the Department of Homeland Security, officials called the current threat landscape “volatile” and “unpredictable” and warned that changes in the conflict abroad “could lead to additional challenges to homeland security in the United States.”
“I think everyone has a pretty good understanding of how the conflict could expand in different ways — in northern France involving Lebanese Hezbollah, but also involving other actors in the region,” a DHS official said. “Each of these would have potential implications for the security of our country if it came to pass.”
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland met with President Biden and other senior officials at the White House on Thursday to discuss steps to protect the homeland.
DHS officials told CBS News that they were not aware of any of the tactics, techniques and procedures used by Hamas on the ground to target neo-Nazi groups in the United States. However, an official said: “It can be assumed that those who promote such a worldview and narrative are taking inspiration from or providing examples to those who have previously carried out horrific attacks.”
Cities across the US have stepped up security around places of worship following the devastating attacks on Israel amid an “incredibly dynamic” threat environment.
“In many communities the news broke early Saturday morning. A lot of people were in the synagogue, they were at the service, they weren’t using electronic devices and they walked out and there were police cruisers there,” said Michael Masters, the synagogue’s director of the Safe Community Network. “It is absolutely critical that we recognize how dynamic the environment is and that we remain prepared and vigilant.”
The Secure Community Network is headquartered in Chicago and was founded after 9/11. It employs dozens, including several security analysts with military or private intelligence backgrounds. Since Saturday, the official security agency for American Jewish institutions has expanded its presence. The 24-hour analysts monitor conditions both abroad and domestically and are ready to alert any of the thousands of synagogues, community centers or day schools in their network.
Authorities in New York City, Washington DC and Los Angeles this week increased security at Jewish and Muslim sites, temples and schools amid concerns that fighting in Israel-Gaza could lead to hate crimes.
As a precautionary measure, the NYPD ordered officers to report in full uniform on Friday, a police official confirmed to CBS News. All of the ministry’s 77 districts have increased security and deployed additional personnel to cover expected protests on Friday. Officials stressed they are working to ensure the protests remain peaceful.
Last Sunday, Rabbi Sam Spector of Kol Ami Congregation in Salt Lake City interrupted the cantor to evacuate the synagogue after receiving a bomb threat. A video posted on Kol Congregation’s Facebook page shows the rabbi asking congregants to “calmly leave the building” and go to a nearby park.
Spector told CBS News affiliate KUTV that employees received an email saying there was a bomb in the building and that bombs had been planted at other Jewish centers around Utah. The police searched the premises but did not find any explosives.
But “bomb threats in Utah were just a few of the bomb threats received that day,” said Masters, who added that communities in Arizona and throughout the Southwest received similar threats. The Secure Community Network is headquartered in Chicago and was founded after 9/11. It employs dozens of people — including several security analysts with military or private intelligence backgrounds — to help protect Jewish organizations nationwide.
“We observe that the Jewish community and other religious organizations continue to receive multiple bomb threats and attacks. And we are working with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, as well as other members of the Jewish community, to develop policies and protocols to respond to ensure the community is prepared and we can be resilient “Masters told CBS News.
According to research by the ADL’s Center on Extremism, calls for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists on Telegram increased by 400% in the 18 hours following the Hamas massacre in Israel. ADL tells CBS News the rise in violent rhetoric has not slowed in recent days.
“It’s coming from all directions,” Oren Segal, vice president of the Center on Extremism at the ADL, said of online threats on social media platforms from Telegram to X. “It’s the celebration of dead Jewish bodies and the justification of the dead.” Brutality that we have seen.
The ADL says it has also tracked several dozen anti-Semitic acts ranging from harassment to assault to vandalism since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and is working to verify these real-life incidents.
“We know that what happens online doesn’t stay online,” Segal said, noting that ADL recently saw a spike in anti-Semitic behavior following a major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021. “We saw a significant increase in anti-Semitism this month. Much of this was related to the conflict in the Middle East. If the past is any indication, we will now see another increase.”
According to Segal, the ADL’s Center on Extremism has tracked over 100 rallies across the country that “constitute a kind of celebration and justification for the murder of Israeli children and the elderly.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, says his Maryland office has “received increasing reports of Muslim and Arab students experiencing harassment and intimidation in public high schools and on college and university campuses.”
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Catherine Herridge