MAY 18, 2015, 10:28 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 18, 2015, 10:31 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Law enforcement officials, alarmed by Islamic State’s sophisticated online recruitment campaigns and by the rising number of young people they’ve caught trying to join the extremist group, are reaching out to warn community leaders and clergy across New Jersey.
“It is a threat to our young people. It is a threat to the future of all of us,” said William Gale, supervisory special agent for the FBI’s Newark Division, in a recent forum in Wayne.
Aside from delivering warnings about the Islamic State’s luring of young people, meetings between law enforcement and Muslims in metro areas around the country are intended to open lines of communication and provoke an exchange of information, federal agents say. Muslims leaders, who have hosted the talks, say the outreach is a sign of cooperation.
But for Muslims whose forebears built local businesses and institutions, emotions provoked by talk of Islamic extremism mingle with a certain wariness that their communities could be stigmatized by the actions of a few. The worry becomes palpable with fresh memories of undercover spying by NYPD on New Jersey mosques and Muslim student groups.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/fbi-forums-focus-on-isis-recruitment-threat-in-n-j-1.1337318