A Virginia resident of Egyptian origin, who was on the verge of deportation, has been apprehended on charges of plotting an assault on the Israeli consulate in New York City.
The man, identified as Abdullah Azz al-Din Taha Muhammad Hassan, is alleged to have supplied an undercover FBI source with instructions for creating a bomb and a strategy for attacking the consulate in Manhattan, as per court records. The FBI confirmed Hassan's arrest to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
According to Fox News, Hassan is being prosecuted for disseminating information related to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction to further a federal crime. In a statement, the FBI's New York Office sought to reassure the Jewish community in New York, stating, "Our office along with our law enforcement partners remains vigilant in our efforts to identify, investigate and disrupt potential threats to our community, using every tool at our disposal to do so." The FBI also urged community members to report any suspicious activities to law enforcement and to dial 911 in cases of imminent violence or threats to life.
Hassan first came to the FBI's attention when the Fairfax County Police Department notified federal authorities about a tip they had received concerning Hassan's social media activities. The tipster claimed that Hassan's account exhibited "radical and terrorist-leaning behavior." Federal prosecutors revealed that Hassan had praised the Islamic State terror group and other radical figures in several posts. In August, Hassan began communicating with an FBI confidential source, whom he believed he had recruited for a "mass casualty attack."
Over a period of weeks, Hassan allegedly guided the informant on bomb-making, weapon acquisition, and the creation of a "martyrdom video." In November, he reportedly chose the Consulate General of Israel as the attack target, suggesting that it would be simpler to execute an attack using small arms and then be "martyred" by the police. Prosecutors stated that Hassan considered New York to be "a gold mine of targets" for an attack. Hassan also allegedly advised the source to book flights to countries that do not have extradition treaties with the United States. He suggested that the source could either kill people at the consulate with an assault rifle or detonate an explosive vest while standing in a group of targets. Hassan also requested that the source livestream the attack so he could watch it unfold in real time.
Jonathan Harounoff, the international spokesperson for Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, responded to the incident by stating that the Jewish state "will not cower to terror." He added, "We will not be silent in the face of hate and violence. We will not stop in our pursuit of justice and peace. We will continue in our fight to return all 100 of our hostages still being held in Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza."
Ofir Akunis, Israel's consul general in New York, expressed his gratitude to the authorities for preventing the alleged attack. He wrote, "This attempted attack by terror organizations is an attack on the sovereign soil of the State of Israel in its entirety. It's proof that terror knows no boundaries and that we must fight it everywhere and every time. The threat it poses to the western world and its values must be fought together by all western democracies alike. Together we will prevail."
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