An Egyptian man dwelling in Virginia who was slated to be deported has been charged with planning an assault on the Israeli consulate in New York Metropolis.
Abdullah Azz al-Din Taha Muhammad Hassan allegedly offered bomb-making directions and plans on the best way to assault the Manhattan consulate to an undercover FBI supply, based on court docket paperwork. He was arrested Tuesday, the FBI advised Fox Information Digital.Â
Hassan is charged with distribution of knowledge referring to explosives, damaging units and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the fee of a federal crime.Â
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On the other aspect of a pro-Palestinian protest space, a gaggle of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered, holding Israeli flags in entrance of the Consulate Common of Israel in New York Metropolis. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Pictures)
“The FBI’s New York Workplace needs to reassure our Jewish group right here in New York that our workplace — together with our regulation enforcement companions — stays vigilant in our efforts to establish, examine and disrupt potential threats to our group, utilizing each software at our disposal to take action. As at all times, we urge all group members to report suspicious exercise to regulation enforcement and name 911 in circumstances of imminent violence or threats to life,” the FBI stated in a press release.Â
“We’ll proceed working to make sure our communities stay secure locations for all, and we thank the general public for his or her continued belief and partnership.”Â
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Hassan caught the FBI’s consideration after the Fairfax County Police Division knowledgeable federal authorities {that a} tipster alerted police about his social media posts on X. The tipster stated the account engaged in “radical and terrorist-leaning habits.”
In a number of posts, Hassan praised the Islamic State terror group and different radical figures, federal prosecutors stated. In August, he started messaging with an FBI confidential supply whom he believed he recruited to conduct a “mass casualty assault,” authorities stated.Â
Demonstrators attend an “emergency rally for Gaza” outdoors the Israeli Consulate in New York Metropolis, Oct. 9, 2023. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox Information Digital)
Over a number of weeks, Hassan directed the informant on the best way to make a bomb, purchase weapons and the best way to make a “martyrdom video,” authorities stated. In November, he allegedly chosen the Consulate Common of Israel because the goal of the assault, saying it might be simpler to commit an assault utilizing small arms and be “martyred” by the police.
He believed New York could be “a gold mine of targets” for an assault, prosecutors stated. Because the pair deliberate the assault, Hassan additionally allegedly advised him to e-book flights to nations with out extradition agreements with the USA. In the course of the assault, Hassan stated the supply might both homicide folks on the consulate with an assault rifle or detonate an explosive vest whereas standing in a gaggle of targets, court docket paperwork state.
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Hassan additionally requested for the supply to livestream the assault so he might watch it in actual time, authorities stated.Â
In a press release, Jonathan Harounoff, the worldwide spokesperson for Israel’s Everlasting Mission to the United Nations, stated the Jewish state “won’t cower to terror.”
“We won’t be silent within the face of hate and violence,” he stated. “We won’t cease in our pursuit of justice and peace. We’ll proceed in our struggle to return all 100 of our hostages nonetheless being held in Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza.”
Sara Netanyahu and Ofir Akunis, consul normal of Israel, attend Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on the 79th session of the Common Meeting at U.N. Headquarters. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket by way of Getty Pictures)
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Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul normal in New York, expressed gratitude to authorities for thwarting the alleged assault.Â
“This tried assault by terror organizations is an assault on the sovereign soil of the State of Israel in its entirety,” he wrote on X. “It is proof that terror is aware of no boundaries and that we should struggle it in all places and each time. The risk it poses to the western world and its values should be fought collectively by all western democracies alike. Collectively we’ll prevail.”
