NYC On 'High Alert' As Israel Violence Grows: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — New York City is on "high alert" for potential attacks inspired by amid the bloody violence engulfing Israel, said Mayor Eric Adams.

Even as NYPD officials reported no threats directed at the city so far, Adams warned New Yorkers Tuesday not to underestimate the potential that so-called "lone wolf" terrorists who have been radicalized online could strike.

The city has the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel, he noted.

"We have to be on high alert, we cannot let our guards down," he said.

"Lone wolves are real."

But Adams' rhetoric over the conflict has been criticized as "dangerous."

The mayor's blanket denunciation of a recent pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square is reckless and caters to a one-sided agenda, said Afaf Nasher, executive director of New York's Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter.

"Mayor Adams' irresponsible response and name-calling fuels Islamophobic rhetoric," Nasher said in a statement.

"With this verbal intimidation, Mayor Adams threatens demonstrators, promotes division and hatred, and calls for potential violence towards those who uplift the voices of the colonized and oppressed populations."

The war in Israel began Saturday after Hamas militants stormed from Gaza and gunbattles to the nation's streets for the first time in decades.

Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza hold more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage, according to Israeli officials.

More than 1,800 lives have already been claimed on both sides, and perhaps hundreds more.

The violence prompted protests across the world, including the controversial rally Sunday in Times Square by pro-Palestinian demonstrators backed by the city's Democratic Socialists of America.

The Times Square rally was widely condemned by Adams and many other New York City political leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Comptroller Brad Lander, who has publicly supported the cause of Palestinian human rights, said the rally effectively celebrated Hamas' "murderous terrorism."

"And there's nothing progressive or liberatory about glorifying it," he tweeted.

Rallies by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides have continued across the city, largely without incident, said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.

Chell said police officials have had calls with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders since Saturday. Cops will be posted outside houses of worship across the city, he said.

Adams said the city is paying special attention to large synagogues in Williamsburg, Borough Park, Flatbush and Rockaway.

"If you see someone within the community that is suspicious: see something, say something," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.