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A George Mason University student has been arrested for allegedly plotting to carry out a “mass casualty attack” on the Israeli consulate in New York City.

Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an 18-year-old Egyptian national, was charged with one count of demonstrating how to manufacture an explosive with intent to murder internationally protected persons, The Washington Post reported of the foiled scheme to target Jews.

Hassan, a resident of Falls Church, Virginia, first landed on the FBI’s radar after the Fairfax County Police Department passed on an anonymous tip that the young man was engaging in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior” on social media.

(Video: NBC News)

According to FBI agents, the X account on which posts were made expressing support for radical Islamist terror organizations ISIS and al-Qaeda, was traced back to Hassan who had several accounts that promoted violence against Jews.

Court documents filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia state that a confidential FBI source started communicating with Hassan online and that he allegedly attempted to recruit the individual for an attack on the Israeli consulate.

According to the affidavit, Hassan told the informant that he “cannot be caught giving instructions about attack planning” since he “believed he was already being watched due to his past.” The foreign student was interviewed by the FBI in 2022 over his “support for ISIS online,” the document stated, according to ABC News.

He also discussed “how to travel to join ISIS” with the confidential source before recruiting the person in October to “conduct a mass casualty attack,” the affidavit said. He also allegedly provided the source with a “pro-ISIS video that called for the killing of Jews” last month, followed by directions on “how to prepare a martyrdom video” and bomb-making, according to the court filing.

Hassan allegedly selected the Consulate General of Israel to be targeted and provided the source with support “regarding the manufacture and use of an explosive device and the planned attack,” the affidavit said.

“Two options: lay havoc on them with an assault rifle or detonate a TATP [suicide] vest in the midst of them,” he told the source.

The FBI arrested Hassan on Tuesday in Falls Church. According to the affidavit, he was in removal proceedings with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Although the student did not live on campus, he has been barred from entering university property,” George Mason University Vice President Paul Allvin said in a statement. “As criminal proceedings progress, the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations.”

The Alexandria Sheriff’s Office confirmed to ABC News that Hassan is currently in the Alexandria Adult Detention Center.

Chris Donaldson
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