FBI Director Christopher Wray alerts Senate over 'historic levels' of antisemitism

FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before Congress on Tuesday and warned of the wave of antisemitism that the United States is currently experiencing. According to Wray, these are "historic levels" of hatred toward Jews.

"This is a threat that is reaching, in some way, sort of historic levels," Wray declared during an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The FBI director said this is in part because "the Jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum," including domestic violent extremists and foreign terrorist organizations. According to Wray, despite only making up 2.4% of the U.S. population, Jews are the target of 60% of hate crimes linked to religion.

Wray also linked the current threat level facing the country to the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7. Since the outbreak of the new wave of violence in the Middle East, numerous incidents and displays of support for Hamas have been recorded.

Wray assured that Hamas attacks in Israel could inspire more attacks like those carried out by other Islamist groups in different Western countries. "We also cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil," he added.

Increased surveillance

Wray repeated the words he dedicated to the nation's law enforcement agencies during the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in October. "This is not a time for panic, but it is a time for vigilance," said the FBI director, who asks the police to take extreme precautions. "We shouldn't stop conducting our daily lives – going to schools, houses of worship, and so forth – but we should be vigilant," Wray said.