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The FBI director warns about threats to Americans from those inspired by the Hamas attack on Israel
Story by By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press • 3d
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)© Provided by The Associated Press
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned on Tuesday that
Hamas' rampage inside Israel could inspire violence in the U.S., telling lawmakers that multiple foreign extremist groups have called for attacks against Americans and the West in recent weeks.
“We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate years ago,” Wray said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
In his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Wray gave his most detailed and ominous assessment of potential threats to the U.S. since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soldiers and civilians.
His reference to the Islamic State, a reminder of when the FBI scrambled to disrupt hastily developed plots of violence by people inspired by the group's ascendancy, underscores the bureau's concerns that the current Middle East conflict could create a similarly dangerous dynamic.
Though the FBI isn’t currently tracking an “organized threat” inside the United States, law enforcement is concerned about the potential of attacks by individuals or small groups, as occurred during the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq a decade ago.
The bureau has already seen an increase in attacks on overseas military bases and expects cyberattacks targeting American infrastructure to get worse as the conflict expands, he said.
“It is a time to be concerned. We are in a dangerous period,” Wray said. “We shouldn’t stop going out, but we should be vigilant.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, meanwhile, said his agency has responded to an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab American communities in the U.S. since the Oct. 7 attack.
“Hate directed at Jewish students, communities and institutions add to a preexisting increase in the level of antisemitism in the United States and around the world,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said Jewish leaders in her state of New Hampshire say congregants are scared to go to synagogue, and Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has heard similar fears from people in his state.
“I know our Jewish families all across my state and all across the country are pretty scared to death right now,” Scott said.
Wray cited sobering statistics in his response, saying that Jewish people make up 2.4% of the U.S. population but are the targets of about 60% of religious-based hate crimes. “That should be jarring to everyone,” he said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)© Provided by The Associated Press
The FBI has also opened a hate-crime investigation in the death of a 6-year-old Muslim boy who police say was stabbed to death by his landlord in an attack that also seriously wounded his mother, Wray said. Police and relatives have said the victims were singled out because of their faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Counterterrorism Center Office Director Christine Abizaid, from left, are sworn in before testifying during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on threats to the homeland, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)© Provided by The Associated Press
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No wonder the Israelis ran when Hamas attacked and need US to protect them:-
Video seems to show Hamas fighter running up to an Israeli tank, planting an explosive on it, then shooting it
Story by
insider@insider.com (Mia Jankowicz) • 13h
A still from footage released by Hamas' Al-Qassam brigade on November 2 2023, showing the moment a fighter places a device on an Israeli tank. Al-Qassam Brigades/Telegram© Al-Qassam Brigades/Telegram
- Hamas' fighters released footage purporting to show an Israeli tank under attack.
- It's one of a number of videos documenting the group's guerrilla tactics against heavy armor.
- The IDF said it has killed Hamas' head of anti-tank units.
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11 powerful images of the wave of surprise attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants including burning tanks and rocket barrages©Amir Cohen/REUTERS
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of war after Hamas launched a surprise attack.
- Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel in "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm."
- Insider compiled 11 dramatic images showing the consequences of the surprise attack on Israel.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
declared a state of war after Palestinian militant organization Hamas launched thousands of rockets in a surprise attack on Saturday.
"The Israel Defense Forces will defend Israeli civilians and the Hamas terrorist organization will pay heavy price for its actions," Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, per Insider.
Hamas' military commander Mohammad Deif called on Palestinians in Israel and those in neighboring Arab countries to join the attack, which he called "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm," in a rare statement, per the
Washington Post.
Palestinian militants infiltrated Israeli territory by land, sea, and some even used
motorized paragliders as the attacks continued.
Images show the scale of the attacks, including captured Israeli military vehicles, buildings aflame, and Israelis fleeing areas targeted by Hamas.
Latest reports from Israeli media say 40 Israelis have been killed so far, with a further 740 people wounded by the Hamas bombings and raids.
Israel's foreign ministry claimed that Hamas fighters were wantonly murdering civilians, per Sky News.
Here are 11 dramatic images as the conflict unfolds.
See more
Hamas released footage that appears to show the guerrilla-style destruction of an Israeli tank in Gaza.
In what appears to be helmet-cam footage, the fighter spies a number of tanks from behind bushes. He then rushes out and places an explosive on one of them, before dashing away.
From behind cover, he fires a rocket-propelled grenade and a brief burst of flame is seen in the distance. The tank struck appears to be one of Israel's Merkava main battle tanks.
In a second clip, a fighter picks up pieces of metal detritus, with the captions claiming they are the remains of the same tank.
The video, released on Thursday, can be seen in this post on X:
The explosion may have been the result of the Merkava's
Trophy active protection system activating,
as The Drive reported.
Insider was unable to verify the footage, and a spokesperson for the IDF declined to comment.
It's one of several videos released by the Al-Qassam Brigade, the wing of Hamas that led the
mass assault on October 7. Both Hamas and Al-Qassam are separately designated as terrorist organizations by an array of countries.
According to commentary attached to the video on the group's channels, the fighter fired an Al-Yassin-105 shell at the tank, which was said to be east of Gaza's Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
The IDF said on Wednesday that it killed the head of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit, Muhammad A'sar, in an air strike,
according to Sky News.
Israel's troops moved two miles into Gaza on Monday,
according to a CNN analysis. The IDF says it lost 16 fighters in the ground operation, per Sky News.
Hamas claims to have destroyed several tanks in Gaza since then.
Helmet-cam footage shared on Wednesday appeared to show tanks being targeted by fighters from tunnels and from behind brush cover, in strikes the group says were also east of Al-Zaytoun.
Following Israel's declaration of war on Hamas, the commander of Israel's armored corps, Brigadier General Hisham Ibrahim
told The Economist that the forces' tank divisions
would not repeat the mistakes made by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
"They fought there in a single-corps fashion, instead of using combined arms tactics," Ibrahim said.
That is to say, Israel wouldn't be sending tank formations out alone — as Russia so disastrously did — but would use them in combination with infantry, artillery, air cover and intelligence support.
That video did not align with that — there were no visible infantry or other forces who acted to stop the Hamas fighter. Some commentators said that Israel had made a mistake by not posting infantry near its tank.
Tanks in general have been shown to be
far more vulnerable to highly-powered, inexpensive munitions in recent conflicts. In Russia's case, large numbers of tanks were left to be picked off from a safe distance by Ukraine's nimble forces.
Analysts have predicted that Israel's fight in Gaza — which has seen massive civilian destruction — would not be a lightning offensive.
Shlomo Brom, an IDF director of strategic planning,
told The Guardian that taking the north of Gaza — where the IDF believes most of Hamas is based — "will be slow, very hard."
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