FBI’s Wray: Feds Have Launched Investigations into Individuals Affiliated with Hamas

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray told Congressional lawmakers on Wednesday evening that federal law enforcement officials have opened various investigations into individuals “affiliated” with Hamas in the wake of the Palestinian terror organization’s unprecedented attack on Israel last month.

However, Wray noted that the bureau has not seen evidence of any specific threat it considers credible.

Wray, speaking before the House Homeland Security Committee, said the FBI is focused on “homegrown violent extremists” that are sympathetic to terror organizations akin to Hamas, along with “domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish Americans or other faith communities.”

In his open remarks obtained by CBS News, Wray stated:

In a year where the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole ‘nother level. Since October 7, we’ve seen a rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against Americans and our allies.

“Given those calls for action,” he continued, “our most immediate concern is that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home.”

Wray testified with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Christine Abizaid, who serves as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

The FBI chief warned in October of the possibility of a lone-wolf style attack on United States soil–a threat which has been heightened following Hamas’s call for Muslims worldwide to stage a “Day of Jihad,” or holy war.

In October a Jordanian national was reportedly arrested in Houston, Texas, on a federal firearm possession charge and was allegedly “plotting to attack a Jewish gathering.”

CNN reported at the time:

Sohaib Abuayyash, 20, who is in the United States on an expired nonimmigrant visa, made “statements to others that support the killing of individuals of particular religious faiths,” and “referenced an event in Houston for members of a particular religious group,” according to a federal court judge who ordered the man be detained pending trial.

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The affidavit also says Abuayyash “has been in direct contact with others who share a radical mindset, has been conducting physical training, and has trained with weapons to possibly commit an attack.”

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But in an order of detention pending trial document filed on October 24, US Magistrate Judge Christina A. Bryan wrote that Abuayyash “has viewed specific and detailed content posted by radical organizations on the internet including lessons on how to construct bombs or explosive devices; and that Defendant has made statements to others that support the killing of individuals of particular religious faiths.”

Wray, testifying in November before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, alluded to Abuayyash’s arrest, though the top law enforcement official did not mention him by name.

“The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level,” Wray told senators at the time.

“Here in the United States, our most immediate concern is that violent extremists — individuals or small groups — will draw inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives,” Wray added.

He continued:

That includes not just homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organization but also domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish or Muslim communities. We’ve seen that already with the individual we arrested last week in Houston who’d been studying how to build bombs and posted online about his support for killing Jews.

In a statement to CNN, an FBI Houston field office confirmed that Wray was referring to Abuayyash in his remarks.