Travelling to the United States and living here for a few months is a very interesting experience. Can there be any more interesting place in the world?
The FBI released an interesting report on terrorism in the US during the Hamas/Israeli War. The Director of the FBI Christopher Wray told the American Congress that the domestic terrorist threats have changed in the US since the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. The threats have both increased and are coming from several different directions since that horrid attack.
As a result of the violence in the Middle East, threats of violence have increased in the US to a whole new level. Wray said “our most immediate concern is that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home.” Most of the threats are against the Jewish community.
I have been critical of both Israel and Hamas, but all terrorists threats against civilians in North America are despicable. This is particularly true when they are fuelled by racist, ethnic, or religious hatred.
Canada has also experienced increased levels of hatred. The added hatred is of course piled on to existing anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Canada and the US. There are many worrying signs in both camps. A man was arrested in Houston who is accused of studying bomb making and posting on line about killing Jewish people. A 6 year-old Muslim boy was stabbed to death, allegedly, by his landlord who was enraged by what he saw in the Middle East. A student from one of America’s elite universities, Cornell, threatened to kill Jewish students. Hate is once more being stirred up everywhere. Why is that? Why are Americans and Canadians so quick to hate and respond violently? Why do they find it so easy to pick on scapegoats?
Seamus Hughes, an expert on Extremism, from the University of Nebraska had some interesting things to say in the subject. He said, “when you look at the plots and the individuals arrested, they are almost pedestrian in nature. These are average citizens that are drawn into an online environment that encourages them to commit these acts.”
We know even not to ignore such threats. They are real.
“Once again, as Hannah Arendt said, evil seems banal. Dull. Almost boring. No big deal. Ho hum. Ordinary people are committing to do heinous acts. It was scary in the 1930s, just before and during the rise of extremist groups such as the Nazis. It is scary now”.
We know there are foreign actors in North America, including Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah, among others, but according to CNN “the biggest threats are individuals radicalized to action by extremist rhetoric and manipulation.”
And of course, again we are all being fed misinformation about both Israelis and Hamas. Each group is fighting each other and the lies. And we are the battleground.
And average ordinary people are the terrorists.