The FBI said it’s aware of antisemitic threats posted online targeting Jewish students at Cornell University.
Since the attack on Israel, antisemitic incidents at colleges have increased.
A Cornell University student was charged with making threats against Jewish students on the campus, according to federal charges filed by the Justice Department on Tuesday.
Patrick Dai, a junior at Cornell, was charged by the DOJ with making explicit threats against Jewish men, women and babies, which allegedly included threats of rape and murder. According to the DOJ, Dai allegedly threatened to “bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot” Jews.
The charge filed against Dai carries a maximum term of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to three years.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had on Tuesday said a person was in custody in connection to antisemitic threats made against students at Cornell University.
“When I met with Cornell students yesterday, I promised them New York State would do everything possible to find the perpetrator who threatened a mass shooting and antisemitic violence on campus,” Hochul said in a statement. “Earlier today, law enforcement identified a person of interest as part of the investigation and this individual is currently in custody of the New York State Police for questioning.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday said the “Justice Department has no tolerance for violence, or unlawful threats of violence fueled by anti-Semitism or Islamophobia” in response to the threats at Cornell University.
The arrest of Dai shows how prosecutors “are focusing our efforts on confronting and disrupting illegal threats wherever they arise,” Garland said.
“I want to reiterate a core principle of this Justice Department: No person, and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence,” Garland said.
The FBI said Monday it was investigating a potential antisemitic hate crime at the university, as President Joe Biden he was “very concerned” about the rising antisemitism in the country.
Over the weekend, numerous threats to the Jewish community at Cornell were posted on a website “unaffiliated” with the university, Cornell University President Martha Pollack wrote in a letter to the community Sunday.
