SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Three separate attacks in the U.S. since last Saturday have been marked as political violence, and two are being investigated as acts of terrorism. NPR's domestic extremism correspondent, Odette Yousef, joins us now to sort through an attack on a synagogue in a Detroit suburb, an attempted attack on anti-Muslim protesters in New York and a shooting at a university in Virginia. Odette, thanks so much for being with us.
ODETTE YOUSEF, BYLINE: Thanks, Scott.
SIMON: What is the latest we know about all these attacks?
YOUSEF: Well, the synagogue attack in Michigan involved a naturalized Lebanese American citizen who, NPR has learned, lost two brothers last week to an Israeli strike in Lebanon, and his parents and sisters-in-law were also wounded. Security at the synagogue shot and killed him. Nobody else died in that incident. Earlier on that same day, a gunman shot and killed someone at Old Dominion University in Virginia. He also died at the scene. There is still more to learn about this person, but he did serve time in prison after pleading guilty about a decade ago to providing material support for ISIS, the Islamic State. And then last weekend, there was an attempted attack on Islamophobic protesters outside the mayor's mansion in New York City. An 18-year-old and a 19-year-old have been charged, and they allegedly made statements effectively saying that they were inspired by ISIS.
SIMON: Obviously, it can be tempting to tie these attacks together. Is that called for? Is it premature?
YOUSEF: I think it's important to look at each individual instance. It certainly feels like the war on Iran is elevating uncertainty here. In the case of the attempted attack outside Gracie Mansion in New York, though, there's no indication that it ties directly to grievance about the war. In the case of the Old Dominion attack, we simply don't know enough right now to say. And in the attack on Temple Israel outside of Detroit, officials have not stated a motive.
I think what we can absolutely say is that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has provided a new opening that foreign terrorist groups are exploiting. Here's Michael Masters. He's national director of the Secure Community Network, which does threat monitoring and security training for the Jewish community across North America.
MICHAEL MASTERS: We have seen the calls for violence coming from Iran, coming from its proxies. We have seen the calls for violence coming from other designated terrorist organizations, from the so-called Islamic State to al-Qaida and others. We know that people are working to answer that call and that they are answering it at a quicker pace.
SIMON: Answering it at a quicker pace sounds alarming.
YOUSEF: Yes. And this is something that extremism researchers have been observing now for some time, Scott, that people are indoctrinating into extremist ideologies faster than had ever really been the case before. A big part of that has been technology. You know, social media companies have largely pulled back on content moderation, and this means that we're seeing an increase in dehumanizing content, threats and extremist propaganda on mainstream platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Here's Bill Braniff. He's with the Polarization and Extremism Research Lab at American University.
BILL BRANIFF: The internet is becoming a more and more dangerous place, and AI is accelerating that trend as resources are being pulled back from not just content moderation, but all the different ways one can make a platform a safer place.
SIMON: Odette, what are people in faith communities asking for?
YOUSEF: Most immediately, Scott, I'm hearing calls for more federal funding for physical security and training. They are asking for roughly three times what is currently provided in federal grants. But I will be frank, you know, the people I've been speaking to are not seeing this problem getting better anytime soon. You know, we don't have a clear idea of how long the fighting in Iran will go. And ultimately, what Braniff and others say we need is to shift to a prevention model that can address some of the underlying reasons that people may go looking for extreme ideas or communities online.
SIMON: Odette Yousef. Thanks so much.
YOUSEF: Thank you.
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