City leaders delivered a unified message of safety and said Friday should be business as usual in light of social media posts calling for a "Day of Rage."
"I want every New Yorker, especially our Jewish New Yorkers and other groups, to know there are no current credible or specific events across our city," Mayor Eric Adams said during a Thursday briefing with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Out of an abundance of caution, the NYPD has already begun providing additional resources to schools and houses of worship on top of added patrols in certain neighborhoods.
Hochul said she wants New Yorkers to feel confident and safe going to school and houses of worship on Friday and over the weekend.
"There's no reason to feel afraid," Hochul said. "No one should feel they have to alter their normal lives or their routines. Indeed when we change our behavior without a serious credible threat, we are letting the terrorists win."
As police and city leaders continue monitoring any potential situation on Friday, they encouraged parents to send their kids to school as they do everyday. Despite that message, a handful of private schools are apparently transitioning to remote learning on Friday.
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Why Friday? A video posted to social media by former Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, allegedly called on people to treat Friday as a day of "anger," or a "day of rage," according to NBC News. The terrorist group's former leader urged people to come together in a day of protests to support Palestine's freedom, according to the Jewish Security Alliance of New York/New Jersey.
New York area police departments are increasing their presence this week as residents' safety concerns grow amid the Israel-Hamas violence war, even as the NYPD confirmed Thursday that there are "no new specific threats" to the city.
An NYPD spokesperson told NBC New York that the department has put all officers in uniform and added patrols at key locations across the five boroughs as not only a precaution, but to give reassurance to people who may have read online posts about alleged possible threats. Many of the online postings have little credibility, the spokesperson added.
"There are a lot of concerns and we appreciate those concerns," said NYPD Assistant Chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Hart. "And what happened in Israel was horrific and of concern to many New Yorkers so our message is that we do not have any specific or credible threats in NYC.”
