Police in New York have arrested a Cornell University student accused of posting violent threats to Jewish classmates.
In a series of posts to a website known as Greekrank, a user with the name “hamas” threatened to shoot Jewish students at the Cornell university.
He was later identified as Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old student in his third year at the university.
Police say he made threats to bring a gun to campus and rape Jewish women and “behead any Jewish babies”.
Mr Dai has been charged by the FBI with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. He is scheduled to appear in court in Syracuse later on Wednesday.
If convicted, the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Officials say he posted that he planned to attack a university building that housed a kosher cafeteria and is next to the Cornell Jewish Center.
Governor Kathy Hochul, who visited the Cornell campus on Monday, said she was “committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head”.
The Cornell Daily Sun, the college newspaper, reported on a series of antisemitic comments left on the website Greekrank.
One post from a commenter named “hamas” was titled “if i see another jew”.
The threats against Cornell’s Jewish community arrive amid reports of rising antisemitic incidents around the country.
Speaking to a congressional committee on Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that antisemitic abuse was reaching “historic levels” in the US.
On Monday, President Joe Biden administration announced that it was working to combat antisemitism and other hate speech on campuses by increasing communications with local, state and federal authorities.
The Israel-Gaza conflict has caused increasing tensions among students on US campuses.
