Police and military forces around the world braced for terrorist incidents after a former Hamas leader designated Friday as a “global day of jihad.”
Khaled Meshaal, who formerly served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau and currently leads the Islamic terrorist group’s diaspora office, called on Muslims to launch protests in major cities around the world. He also asked Muslims in countries such as Syria and Jordan to attack Israel; the Jewish state declared war against Hamas last weekend after militants killed civilians.
As security forces around the world braced for violence, a French teacher was killed and two others were severely wounded in a knife attack carried out by an individual who had been radicalized into Islam while he was a student at the school. An employee at the Israeli embassy in China was likewise stabbed on Friday in a supermarket; police in Beijing arrested a foreigner who was described as a member of the diplomat’s family.
Police departments in the United States meanwhile increased their patrols in anticipation of the “global day of jihad.” The New York Police Department announced that officers would bolster their presence for potential mayhem as Jewish schools in the city closed their doors. The Los Angeles Police Department similarly made preparations ahead of possible violence.
“We don’t have credible threats to this area right now, but that doesn’t mean somebody that’s working by themselves may see that and decide to take some action,” Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Blake Chow said. “We’re really asking everybody to be alert.”
Meshaal had said that the “global day of jihad” is a response to “the Zionists and their criminal leaders and what they wrought, and to the Americans who came to their aid.” FBI Director Christopher Wray warned on Thursday that the agency is aware of the call to violence and said officials are remaining vigilant. “We cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas, or other foreign terrorist organizations, could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks here on our own soil,” he remarked.
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said in a press briefing on Thursday that the Biden administration is communicating with police forces around the nation to monitor potential attacks. “We are constantly in touch with local law enforcement, state and federal officials across the country to make sure that we are as vigilant as we can be to be able to identify and disrupt any threats to the American people,” he commented.
