Speaking at an event for the Secure Community Network (SCN), a non-profit Jewish community safety and training organization, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Israel-Hamas conflict has tripled the number of anti-Semitic hate crime cases investigated by the FBI.
“Between October 7 and January 30 of this year, we opened three times more anti-Semitic hate crime investigations than we did in the four months prior to October 7,” Mr. Wray said.
Protesters draped in Israeli flags in New York's Times Square (USA) demanding the release of hostages held by Hamas. Photo: Bloomberg
An audit by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - a non- governmental organization dedicated to combating extremism and anti-Semitism - also found that hate crimes against Jews tended to increase significantly when the Israel-Hamas war began.
In 2023, the ADL tracked 8,873 anti-Semitic incidents in the US, the highest number since the organization began tracking data in 1979. Meanwhile, CNN reported last week that 5,204 related incidents occurred between October 7 and December 31 alone.
The FBI director said his comments were not meant to cause alarm, but rather to note that “it is time to remain vigilant.” Many other security experts have made similar comments.
In addition to domestic violence and a rise in threats targeting Jewish institutions, Mr. Wray warned that the FBI is also watching a range of threats from abroad.
"We have seen that since October 7, a group of foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against the United States and our allies," Mr. Wray said, including calls from global terrorist groups "to target Jewish communities in both the United States and Europe."
Ngoc Anh (according to CNN)
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