George Mason Freshman Plotted Attack on Israeli Consulate in New York

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A foreign student at George Mason University in Virginia has been arrested for plotting a terror attack on the Israeli consulate in New York.

Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, a freshman at George Mason University, faces one count of demonstrating how to manufacture an explosive with intent to murder internationally protected persons, which carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors may add other charges as the investigation proceeds. The university has banned him from campus.

U.S. officials said Hassan, an Egyptian national…

The investigation into Hassan started earlier this year when the FBI received a tip about his posts on X supporting ISIS.

A tipster reported an account linked to Hassan to police, saying it engaged in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior” on X, court documents show. Prosecutors alleged Hassan made posts “revering Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri” and operated “several pro-ISIS and al Qaeda accounts that promoted violence against Jews.”

The FBI was able to trace the user’s posts to his phone and subsequently a university campus IP address in Virginia.

The FBI then had an undercover informant contact Hassan who recruited him to carry out the attack.

In August, the F.B.I. informant commented on a post that the agency had determined was made by Mr. Hassan, and then began corresponding with him on Telegram.

In November, Mr. Hassan sent the informant “a pro-ISIS video that called for the killing of Jews,” according to the affidavit. After the informant told him he pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS and said he was waiting on Mr. Hassan’s direction, the two men began discussing a plan for the informant to undertake a terror attack.

The informant claimed to be in New York and Hassan recommended he do something to attack the “Yahud,” meaning the Jews. Hassan then sent the informant the address of the Israeli consulate and suggested a course of action: “Two options: lay havoc on them with an assault rifle or detonate a TATP vest in the midst of them.”

There was already an ongoing deportation proceeding taking place, but now Hassan might get to stay a long time. He’s facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The NY Times reports that Hassan had already received a visit from the FBI two years ago when he would have been 16-years-old.

He was interviewed by the F.B.I. in 2022, when he was a juvenile, because of his online expressions of support for the terrorist group ISIS, according to the affidavit.

So it sounds like Hassan was already on their radar and then got another tip showing he had not changed his ways even after the first FBI visit.

This case is apparently not connected to another situation at George Mason University which happened last month.

In the early morning hours of November 7, more than 12 police officers showed up outside at an address in Springfield, Virginia, knocked, broke down the door, and raided the family home of two Palestinian American students at George Mason University.

Two of the Palestinian American family’s daughters attend George Mason. One is an undergraduate student and the co-president of Mason’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. The other is in a master’s program at Mason and a former president of the school’s SJP chapter. 

In short order, the school’s SJP chapter was suspended. Soon after, George Mason Police Chief Carl Rowan Jr. served the sisters with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years — meaning that they can no longer continue their education. 

That home search outraged campus progressives but the list of items turned up in the search was interesting.

Court documents, which do not publicly indicate a reason for the search, allege that authorities found guns and magazines inside the home — materials authorities say belonged to the father and brother of the George Mason students. Police also alleged that Hamas and Hezbollah flags were found, according to an emergency petition filed to temporarily prohibit the men from possessing or buying firearms…

Also found were arm patches with Arabic text that was translated in court to read, “Kill them where they stand,” and other patches that call for death to Jews and America, Birnbaum said.

So, probably a pretty extreme family but obviously a patch in a home isn’t a threat and people in the US have the right to own guns. So far no one has been charged in connection with that raid.