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Terror threats towards the US have reached a “whole other level” since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, the head of the FBI said on Tuesday, while another intelligence chief warned of a surge in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
“You’ve seen a veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organisations calling for terrorist attacks against us in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” the FBI director Christopher Wray told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Speaking alongside other top US intelligence officials, Mr Wray said the FBI is also concerned about the risk of attacks by lone actors inspired by calls for violence from the Middle East.
“This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance given the risk,” Mr Wray said.
The CIA director William Burns, meanwhile, told the same panel that there is “still the possibility” of a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would allow for more aid to enter the enclave, and for the release of hostages.
“It's in everybody's interest to try to get to the kind of ceasefire hostage deal that we were discussing before, because I think that is the best way, in many respects, to calm the situation in the West Bank and also elsewhere in the region,” Mr Burns said.
His assessment comes a day after US intelligence warned in a written report that Israel could face armed resistance from Hamas for years.
Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, said the Gaza conflict would probably have a “generational impact on terrorism”.
She said the war “is inspiring individuals to conduct acts of anti-Semitism and Islamophobic terror worldwide.”
Hamas's October 7 attack prompted Israel to declare war on the group, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US and EU.
On Monday, the US intelligence community released a report that said armed resistance against Israel by Hamas could continue for “years to come”, despite the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to destroy the militants.
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The Israeli military “will struggle to neutralise Hamas's underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength and surprise Israeli forces”, the report states.
It also says Mr Netanyahu's position and that of his government “may be in jeopardy”.
“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,” the report says.
Mr Burns added that the West Bank “remains a pretty combustible place right now”.
“I think the risks of a spillover of increased violence in the West Bank in places like Jordan and elsewhere in the region are also considerable,” he said.
He also spoke on the presence of Iranian proxies in the region that are “feeding off” the crisis.
“So it's in everybody's interest to try to get to the kind of ceasefire-hostage deal that we were discussing before, because I think that is the best way in many respects, to calm the situation in the West Bank and also elsewhere in the region,” Mr Burns said.
