New York City and the New York Police Department are on alert after violence in Israel and Gaza.
“Don’t underestimate the lone wolves. People who have been radicalized online,” Mayor Eric Adams warned at a press conference.
Adams said the city and NYPD are monitoring internet sites closely.
“There are those who can exploit the situation,” Adams said.
The police department is tracking social media and has layers of security around synagogues and other Jewish houses of worship, John Chell, NYPD chief of patrol, said at the news conference Tuesday.
"We have directed the NYPD to surge additional resources to schools and houses of worship to ensure that they are safe, and that our city remains a place of peace," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. "We're also stepping up NYPD patrols in other key neighborhoods to protect all of our city residents."
"There is currently no intelligence showing any active threats in New York — that is, the entire state of New York," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday. "But in a moment fraught like this, we will continue to exercise elevated vigilance and impose measures to deter any potential violence."
Israel declared war on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, after Hamas launched a surprise attack Saturday. The Associated Press reports the war has claimed at least 2,600 lives on both sides since Hamas began its attack on Israel.
Columbia University in New York City told students in an email that access to the Ivy League campus on Thursday will be available only to people with university identification.
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The security is in anticipation of planned protests Thursday over the Israel-Hamas war.
“This condition is in place to help maintain safety and a sense of community through the planned demonstration process,” executive vice president David M. Greenberg wrote in the email.
The closing of the campus to the public Thursday comes one day before family weekend scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
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