Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Pedro A. Rodriguez/U.S. Navy Photo
An FBI evidence response team collects evidence at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18, 2013
(JNS) — The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned on Friday — as American Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah — that the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack and “any further significant escalations in the conflict” could motivate violent attacks.
The agencies stated that the potential threat could come “from a variety of actors in response to the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and consistent calls by foreign terrorist organizations to their supporters seeking to provoke violence in the West.”
U.S.-designated foreign terror organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, call regularly for violence against Israel, and Iran, which supports a network of terror proxies, threatens Israel and the West consistently.
The FBI and Homeland Security stated that the anniversary of Hamas’s terror attack could inspire not only Jew-hatred, but also “could motivate threat actors across ideologies, including those who espouse violent antisemitism and Islamophobia, to engage in violence.”
“Individuals inspired by this online messaging could act alone to commit an attack with little to no warning,” the two stated.
The FBI and Homeland Security didn’t define what they meant by “further significant escalations,” although the Biden administration has suggested, at times, that Israel’s defensive responses to attacks from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas risk escalating the conflict.
On Thursday, Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, suggested during a press briefing that Israel is partly responsible for a “tit-for-tat” escalation of the conflict on its norther border.
“There are horrific, horrific consequences of this conflict. It’s why we ultimately want to get to a diplomatic resolution. It is — this is a security situation that has plagued Lebanon for years,” Miller said.
“Hezbollah has been a destabilizing force that has attacked not just Israel but has attacked Lebanese civilians, and has put the entire region in this untenable situation where, after Oct. 7, they began launching attacks on Israel that forced tens of thousands of Israeli civilians to move, and then Israel responded and they had this tit-for-tat escalation back and forth that forced tens of thousands of Lebanese to move,” he said.
On Wednesday, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the FBI said that the country is operating in a “heightened threat environment” ahead of the anniversary of Oct. 7.
“It is essential to be watchful for threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities and institutions and to immediately contact law enforcement to report any suspicious activity,” the FBI stated at the time. “We continue to share intelligence with our law enforcement partners here and overseas and continue discussions with faith-based organizations, the private sector and others about their concerns.”
“We must remember the hostages and the innocent lives lost throughout the Mideast over the last year,” it added. “At the same time, the FBI remains focused on our mission to protect the American people and prevent acts of terrorism and hate.”
