‘This War Was Going to Have Consequences in the Homeland’: CNN Analyst Quickly Blames Synagogue Attack on Conflict in Iran

CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem quickly blamed the attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan on Thursday on the United States’ ongoing operation in Iran.

Shortly after the news broke that there was an active shooter at the synagogue, Kayyem was asked “what stood out” about what a local sheriff had said about the situation.

“I think it’s absolutely that he said specifically in the last two weeks he has been in contact with federal authorities, as well as the Jewish community about the heightened threat level. It is something that all of us have been warning about that, you know, this may be a regional war but it’s going to have global consequences, and one of them is going to be incitement radicalization, in particular as Islamic terrorist groups are utilizing the war, like ISIS, to go online and to lure people to violence,” replied Kayyem. “Now, is that this specific case? We don’t know.”

She continued a few moments later:

Though we’re not hearing much from the federal government on this, neither DHS, FBI, nor the national Counterterrorism Center have issued a formal bulletin, what we call a formal intelligence bulletin to law enforcement, It is clear to me, state and local law enforcement — about the increased threat environment — it is clear to me that state and locals are taking it upon themselves, they see the news, to ensure that places that may be targeted, and in particular synagogues, in this case, a synagogue, or the Jewish community are focused on, and that the threat environment that people that I talk to right now who are in the state and local world are worried about two things.

One, of course, what we’ve seen today, attacks against the Jewish community, and then of course attacks against Iranian-Americans. And so all of that is part of this horrible stew of terrorism and incitement that we live in now and a world online, and a world where where violence is too prevalent. And so once again, the fact that the sheriff said two weeks, that’s not a coincidental two weeks. Every law enforcement agent knew, or leader knew, that this war was going to have consequences in the homeland, in ways that we are seeing-, well we don’t-, that we could be seeing today, I’ll be careful, but in ways that we should anticipate the longer this war goes.

“Of course,” agreed anchor Boris Sanchez.

The shooter was quickly neutralized after ramming his vehicle into the synagogue.

Watch above via CNN.

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