A string of foiled terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in recent weeks has reignited fears of a deepening domestic extremism crisis in the United States, and security experts warn the threat is far from over.

The most dramatic incident came when an attacker drove a truck loaded with explosives through the gates of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, before being stopped and neutralized by security personnel. Just days earlier, two Pennsylvania men were arrested in New York after attempting to hurl improvised explosive devices — packed with nails and screws — at demonstrators near Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City’s mayor.

Devorah Halberstam, one of New York’s foremost voices on terrorism and hate crimes, says the incidents are not flukes, and should not be treated as such.

“I have never looked at any act of terrorism as an isolated incident,” said Mrs. Halberstam, who chairs the board of commissioners at the mayor’s office for combating antisemitism and also heads the NYPD’s civilian panel for reviewing hate crimes. “It is only a matter of time before things like this happen.”

Mrs. Halberstam knows the stakes personally. In 1994, her 16-year-old son Ari was shot and killed in an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge carried out by an Lebanese immigrant. This past week marked the 32nd yahrtzeit.

Speaking to Yisrael Hayom, she described the current moment in stark terms. “We are living in very serious times,” she said, noting that “the Jewish community is at great risk.” At the same time, she credited law enforcement with doing “an outstanding job protecting the community” in the recent cases, and pointed out that the public remains largely unaware of how many plots are quietly foiled before they reach the public.

“When the FBI or one of the investigative agencies stops a plot, they don’t always tell the public about it, and rightly so. But when an incident actually happens, as here, it can no longer be hidden.”

One of the most unsettling features of recent attacks, Mrs. Halberstam said, is that the perpetrators often have no prior criminal record and no known organizational ties. “Very often, these are people who are completely new to this field. They have no criminal record, no known connection to any organization, and then suddenly something inspires them, and they decide to act.”

She pointed to social media as a key accelerant. “If you follow Instagram and social media, you see so much hatred there that it gives you chills. Terrorism is just one of the ways people vent that hatred.”

Mrs. Halberstam also raised the specter of Iranian sleeper cells operating inside the United States, a concern that has grown more acute since the U.S. joined Israel’s military campaign against Iran in Operation Epic Fury. “This is not something new. There were cells like this even before 9/11,” she said. “The real threat today is from people who have lived here for years, sometimes even American citizens, but whose loyalty is not to this country.”

She described the challenge facing security agencies as “a needle in a haystack,” adding: “We need to be more thorough in our investigations and constantly ask ourselves whether we are doing enough. As far as I am concerned, the answer is that it is never enough.”

New York City, she said, will always be a prime target. “New York is the center of the world. People come to it from every country and for every possible reason. If someone wants to make an impact, they do it in New York.” She warned particularly of mass-casualty scenarios involving the subway system. “The subway is a closed system packed with a large number of people. If you have a bomb and you throw it in there, the impact can be enormous.”

The recent attack in New York drew a rebuke from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, though his condemnation came alongside criticism of the right-wing rally that had been targeted, which he described as “rooted in prejudice and racism.” The framing was widely perceived as drawing a moral equivalence between the attackers and their targets.

Mrs. Halberstam declined to engage directly with the political controversy. “The mayor’s response is his personal response,” she said, noting that the investigation is now in federal hands.

The incidents have added urgency to calls for better inter-agency cooperation. “You cannot hold information close to the chest, because sometimes one agency holds a small detail that connects to the bigger picture at another agency,” Halberstam said.

She argued that the principle applies equally to international intelligence-sharing. “There is one clear common denominator — no country wants terrorism on its soil, and so it is essential to share information between governments and security agencies.”

Recent months have also seen an attempted vehicle ramming at the global Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn — the community Halberstam herself belongs to — where a driver accelerated toward the compound’s gate before being stopped. “The moment the door opened, and they began using language against Jews again, it became a slippery slope,” she said. “Suddenly, it’s coming from all directions.”

She pushed back against any suggestion that Jewish institutions are over-hardened targets. “We don’t put up security because we want to. We do it because we are targeted again and again. The numbers on antisemitic attacks are not made up — they come straight from NYPD data.”

Asked which category of terror threat concerns her most, Halberstam did not hesitate. “The answer is always all of them: organized networks, individuals who have radicalized online, or anything else. Each one can cause destruction.”

“Anyone working in this field cannot afford a moment of calm. All we can do is hope and pray, trust the people who need to be out there watching and doing the job, and hope that God will be with us.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)