By Steve Neavling
The FBI is on alert for potential threats to the Jewish community at the start of Passover this week.
The warning comes at a time when hate crimes against Jews are already on the rise. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the number of anti-Jewish hate crime investigations have at least tripled, FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week.
In the Pittsburgh area, the FBI is investigating a series of recent threats against religious centers.
“The FBI is aware of numerous threats of violence communicated to schools and houses of worship in Western Pennsylvania recently,” an FBI spokesperson told the Pittsburgh Gazette in a statement. “While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we continue to partner with local law enforcement to investigate threat information as it comes to our attention.”
In one case, a brick sidewalk outside a home in Pittsburgh was spray-painted with the Nazi rallying cry, “For blood and soil.”
“It’s bone-chilling,” said the woman who lives in the home told CBS News. “It’s absolutely something that hits you viscerally.”
Last week, Wray told Jewish security officials that the FBI was “particularly concerned” about lone actors targeting events, gatherings and religious centers over the holiday.
