FBI says it is investigating Hamas in the US

The FBI is conducting several investigations against people associated with Hamas, the director of the US intelligence agency said this Wednesday, stressing that the Palestinian Islamist group does not have the ability to operate in the United States.

At a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee, Christopher Wray said that since the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, the FBI has become especially vigilant about how the threat Hamas may pose inside the United States is evolving.

According to the FBI director, the presence of elements associated with Hamas in the United States is associated with the financing of the Islamist group’s operations abroad.

“In a year when the terrorist threat was already high, the ongoing war in the Middle East raised the threat of attacks on Americans in the United States to a whole new level,” Wray acknowledged.

However, in his written statement, the FBI director said that at this time his organization “has no information indicating that Hamas has the intention or ability to conduct operations in the United States.”

However, Ray was “particularly concerned” about the possibility of Hamas supporters committing violent acts “on behalf of the group.”

“Our most pressing concern is that events in the Middle East are inspiring individuals or small groups to carry out attacks here. This includes homegrown violent extremists inspired by foreign terrorist organizations,” the FBI director explained.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted to the same commission that the domestic terrorism threat level in the United States would be raised in 2023.

“The Hamas attack on Israel, along with other recent events, has heightened the focus on possible attacks on specific people and institutions considered symbolic or associated with the conflict,” Mayorkas said.