A confidential FBI memo obtained by ABC News reveals a connection between foreign actors and nearly 200 swatting incidents at Jewish synagogues and schools last week.
“Swatting” is when an individual or group of people make a misleading or false report to emergency services in an attempt to draw numerous armed authorities to a specific place. (RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene Swatted On Christmas Day: ‘The 8th Time')
According to the FBI memo, more than 30 of the FBI's 56 field offices are working to investigate the string of false reports. None of the reports, which mostly consisted of bomb threats, were legitimate.
“At this time, based on similar language and specific email tradecraft used, it appears the perpetrators of these threats are connected,” Assistant FBI Director Cathy Milhoan wrote in the memo. “Additionally, these threats appear to be originating from outside of the United States.”
The nonprofit Secure Community Network (SCN) tracked 199 threats to Jewish institutions last Friday and Saturday across the country. Nearly three-quarters of the reports were in California and Arizona. (RELATED: Elderly Jewish Man Killed During Israel-Palestine Protest In California)
“The alarming volume of swatting incidents and false bomb threats being carried out across the country is a major concern for the safety and security of the Jewish community in North America, as well as law enforcement,” SCN CEO Michael Masters said in a statement.
“It's critical to recognize that these are not victimless crimes or innocent pranks: They can have real — and even deadly — consequences,” he added.
Since October hate crimes in the U.S. targeting Jews and Muslims have skyrocketed, stoked by the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a testimony that threats have reached a fever pitch.
“And that's on top of that already escalating increase that I mentioned,” he said, after noting hate crimes reached a high in 2022.
The FBI director said “the biggest chunk of those are threats against the Jewish community, but there are of course attacks … against others as well,” pointing to attacks against Muslim targets.
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