The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said on Thursday that the justice department was monitoring an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities in the United States tied to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The entire justice department remains vigilant in our efforts to identify and respond to hate crimes, threats of violence, or related incidents, with particular attention to threats to faith communities,” Garland said in prepared remarks at a news conference in Jacksonville, Florida.
Garland said that last week he had directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US attorneys’ offices to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to respond to threats, and urged federal prosecutors to be in contact with faith and community leaders.
Garland plans to meet later on Thursday with law enforcement officials in Miami, home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States.
The 7 October cross-border terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombing of the Hamas-controlled enclave of Gaza have sparked tensions around the world, including in the United States.
The FBI said on Monday it was investigating the stabbing death of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Muslim boy, in Illinois as a hate crime. A suspect has already been charged with state crimes, and authorities said the boy and his mother were targeted because they were Palestinian Americans.
US authorities on Tuesday charged a North Carolina man for allegedly sending a threatening message to a Jewish organization. Even before the current war, the Anti-Defamation League reported a record number of antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2022.
Jewish and Muslim Americans in cities all around the country had already said they were worried that escalating tensions between Israel and Palestinian leaders in the Middle East region, which some are calling “isolating and scary”, will exacerbate hate crimes and harassment in the US.
Reuters contributed reporting
