As Israel battles the Hamas terror group following an Oct. 7 assault inside its borders, authorities within the U.S. are urging consciousness over the danger of “lone wolf” terror assaults on American soil.
A decade in the past, in the course of the rise of the Islamic State group, lone wolf assaults grew to become a surprising new development that counter-terrorism investigators labored tirelessly to thwart within the U.S. and overseas.
Because the Trump administration squashed ISIS abroad, American regulation enforcement tamped down on the issue at house, resulting in a decline in such assaults, in response to Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector.
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Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters rally in entrance of the White Home, calling for an finish to the Israel-Hamas warfare in Washington, D.C., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (Rod Lamkey/CNP for Fox Information Digital)
ISIS’ defeats and the thwarting of home terror plots killed the attraction for individuals who have been susceptible to manipulation underneath what he known as the “loser-to-lion” system, he instructed Fox Information Digital. Lone wolves with nothing going for them believed they might obtain martyrdom by acts of terror, he stated.
“You didn’t need to take down the Brooklyn Bridge. You have been a lion of Islam if you happen to stabbed your neighbor as a result of he was an apostate,” he stated.
Final month, FBI Director Christopher Wray instructed Congress “terror threats have elevated” amid protests and debate over the continued warfare between Israel and the Hamas terror group.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies in the course of the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee listening to, “Threats to the Homeland,” in Dirksen Constructing Oct. 31, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures)
“The truth is that the terrorism risk has been elevated all through 2023, however the ongoing warfare within the Center East has raised the specter of an assault in opposition to Individuals in america to a complete different degree,” Wray stated.
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James J. Carafano, a homeland safety knowledgeable and senior counselor to the president and E.W. Richardson fellow on the Heritage Basis assume tank in Washington, D.C., stated the federal government must prioritize regulation enforcement over politics.
Carafano has studied dozens of homegrown assaults following 9/11, together with the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. He stated thwarting them requires following well-established practices of contemporary policing with out political interference.
Each Mauro and Carafano recognized two points that will make Individuals much less protected — a scarcity of political unity and the porous southern border.
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Palestinian Hamas terrorists throughout a army present within the Bani Suheila district July 20, 2017, in Gaza Metropolis, Gaza. (Chris McGrath/Getty Pictures)
“The place public security and nationwide safety bump up in opposition to politics, the politics win,” Carafano stated, calling strikes weakening regulation enforcement underneath the Biden and Obama administrations “deliberate self-weakening.”
Below the present administration, he stated, the mantra has been that the most important home risk is violent right-wing extremism, he stated.
“That’s demonstrably false,” he added, however Islamist teams might warrant extra scrutiny.
Mauro additionally stated that U.S.-based Hamas sympathizers symbolize a possible pool for radicalizing future lone wolf attackers.
A fireplace rages after Hamas fires rockets in Sderot, Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. (Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Company through Getty Pictures)
“You didn’t have this huge pool of sympathizers with what’s a delegated terrorist group, Hamas,” he stated. “That may be a authorized designation that has nothing to do with the place you stand on the Israel-Palestinian battle.”
A number of lone wolf assaults have already taken place within the U.S. and allied international locations, together with a lady who allegedly drove into what she incorrectly thought was a Jewish college in Indianapolis final week and a lethal stabbing at a French highschool final month.
Lengthy earlier than the warfare broke out in Israel, nonetheless, lone wolves have burst out in violence, together with in a number of high-profile assaults the place there might have been missed warning indicators.
Terror suspect tries to stab cop and steal gun, December 2022
Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old Maine man charged with federal terrorism offenses after allegedly slashing two NYPD officers with a machete close to Occasions Sq. on New Yr’s Eve. (Handout)
Trevor Bickford of Maine was 19 when he allegedly drove all the way down to New York Metropolis’s New Yr’s Eve celebration and attacked 4 officers with a machete close to Occasions Sq., in response to authorities.
He had been underneath surveillance by counter-terrrorism authorities within the weeks earlier than the assault and had reportedly transformed to Islam.
Bickford was accused of crying out “Allahu Akbar!” earlier than slashing one officer within the head from behind after which one other officer earlier than police shot him within the shoulder and took him into custody.
Based on federal prosecutors, Bickford’s plan was to “wage jihad by killing U.S. authorities officers” and that he had been studying Taliban and al Qaeda propaganda on-line.
San Bernardino Christmas celebration bloodbath, December 2015
An Islamist husband and spouse duo-turned-terrorists attacked a Christmas celebration in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 folks and wounding dozens extra. Responding officers killed the husband, Syed Farook, and spouse, Tashfeen Malik, in a harrowing shootout.
Authorities later stated Malik was an Islamic State group sympathizer who lied on her “fiancée visa” software.
Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook in undated images supplied by the FBI. (FBI)
Queens hatchet assault, October 2014
On Oct. 23, 2014, a New York Metropolis man rushed 4 rookie NYPD officers from behind with a hatchet, hanging one at the back of the pinnacle and almost killing him and injuring a second earlier than police opened fireplace and killed the suspect.
Authorities later recognized the attacker as Zale Thompson, a Navy veteran who had develop into radicalized however had no direct ties to any terror teams.
Police fatally shot terror suspect Zale Thompson in 2014 after he ran up behind an officer and swung a hatchet into the again of his head in 2014. (NYPD)
“He had all this jihadi literature, however he did not look like related to any mosque,” Mauro stated. “So, the place was he getting all this? He was getting this on-line.”
A search of his laptop revealed he’d appeared up ISIS-related content material and the mayor’s handle. A day earlier than the assault, ISIS posted a video urging supporters to conduct any assaults they might, wherever they might.
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Boston Marathon bombing, April 2013
Two brothers from Chechnya planted home made bombs close to the end line of the Boston Marathon in Masachusetts, killing three and severely injuring a whole bunch of individuals on the crowded occasion.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, carried out the Boston Marathon bombings. At his trial, Dzhokhar claimed his older brother was primarily accountable. (The Assocaited Press)
Legislation enforcement and residents can assist cease lone wolf assaults earlier than they occur by remaining alert and reporting suspicious exercise, consultants say.
“You are going to search for social media exercise, radicalization and different behaviors that point out a specific goal of hatred, coupled with a predilection to commit lively violence,” stated David Katz, a former DEA particular agent and the CEO of World Safety Inc.
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Amid the heightened lone wolf risk and spikes in antisemitism throughout the nation, Katz, a number one gun teacher, has additionally begun tactical coaching with a small group of volunteers at his native synagogue in Texas, he stated.
“Eleven males and one girl are going to be dealing with safety as a result of we will not belief anyone else to do it, nor can we afford to rent devoted armed guards,” he stated.
Fox Information’ Adam Sabes and The Related Press contributed to this report.
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