October 12, 2023
You may be concerned about this call for a Global Day of Jihad tomorrow, Friday October 13th.
Now I’m not here to tell you what to think and I’m obviously not here to tell you what to do. I’m here to tell you about what the call means and then I’m going to tell you what the US intelligence agencies and the President have said about it.
First – what’s going on? Well, the former leader of Hamas put out a video – calling on supporters to stage demonstrations across the world in support of Palestinians. And he urged countries like Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan – to join Hamas and take up arms against Israel. Just a point of clarification here – Hamas is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. They are not the same as the Palestinian people. But – Hamas just so happens to rule the Gaza Strip.
Now – let’s take this day of jihad call — one piece at a time.
Let’s start with the concerns here at home when it comes to this call to action on Friday. The White House says the US intelligence agencies are on it.
But some kind of protest on Friday is possible. In the United States protests are legal. But violence is not. And on Tuesday the President announced all federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been working hand and hand with local law enforcement in your community to keep eyes and ears everywhere.
You are probably seeing stepped up law enforcement presence in certain parts of your city – but there are also security measures happening that you probably won’t see. As for any specific threat to the homeland – the white house says – they don’t have one.
Let’s talk about the second part of the call to action – encouraging those in neighboring countries to join in the fight. I told you in this video on Tuesday – President Biden already deployed the USS Gerald Ford air craft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean along with a nearby deployed US fighter jet squadron. He said the US is willing, ready and able to deploy more assets if necessary. And the president was very clear on Tuesday about why our military was there…not to put boots on the ground but to act as a deterrent.
