Local and federal law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are stepping up their patrols of Jewish houses of worship, Jewish-owned businesses and Israeli diplomatic buildings as calls for attacks on the Jewish community in the United States intensify online.
Former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal recently called for Friday to be a global day of “anger” in support of the recent Hamas attack on Israel, which has left over 1,300 Israelis dead. He said demonstrations would send a “message of rage to Zionists and to America.”
Historically, such calls for action or for a “day of rage” have produced large demonstrations and unrest in Gaza and the West Bank. But such calls have not led to large-scale attacks in the U.S. in the past.
Oren Segal, the Vice President of the ADL Center on Extremism, said such calls are common in the Middle East but now they are becoming more common here.
“Right now, we’re concerned about the vulnerability of the Jewish community, and the possibility of violence targeting the community,” he said. “We’re seeing how white supremacists online are glorifying what happened in Israel. We are also seeing organizations on the left at rallies and other events who justify and celebrate that violence as well.”
Multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are monitoring “a lot of chatter” on social media about retaliatory attacks against Israel’s counterstrikes on Gaza, which have also killed over 1,300.
But none of the online threats are “specific and credible,” according to three officials, a standard that law enforcement applies to intervene to stop a potential perpetrator of violence.
However, antisemitic threats have been and continue to be made specific to the Jewish community in the U.S., multiple senior law enforcement officials say.
Law enforcement agencies in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., as well as federal agencies, are increasing their security posture. “We are at a heightened posture and talking to our counterparts across the country. This is the highest level of security a lot of cities have had in some time,” one senior law enforcement official said.
