The 18-year-old believed he was plotting to open fire on Israel’s consulate, but he was really communicating with an FBI informant, officials said
A George Mason University student was arrested by the FBI on Dec. 17 for allegedly plotting a mass casualty attack on the Israeli consulate in New York, according to a federal court filing.
Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, 18, faces multiple federal charges for distributing information on weapons in furtherance of a violent crime and planning to murder a foreign official, according to an affidavit filed on Dec. 16 in Virginia’s U.S. District Court.
In May, the Egyptian national residing in Falls Church garnered the FBI’s attention through his social media activity, when Fairfax County police warned federal authorities of a user engaging in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior,” according to the affidavit.
Hassan also allegedly ran “several pro-ISIS and al Qaeda accounts that promoted violence against Jews,” prosecutors claimed. Investigators traced the user’s posts to Hassan’s phone and a university campus IP address in Virginia, CNN reported.
An anonymous FBI source contacted Hassan, feigning sympathy for his ideas and moving their correspondence to Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform.
In those messages, Hassan sent the informant a “pro-ISIS video that called for the killing of Jews” and instructions on how to make bombs, prosecutors said. He advocated for the attacks on government buildings, according to court documents, spending over one month attempting to convince the FBI source to help facilitate a mass casualty attack, later deciding to target the Consulate General of Israel in New York.
Between Nov. 22 and Dec. 4, Hassan sent the informant specific information and links detailing how to create a bomb, whether to use a bomb or a gun, how to flee to a country with no extradition laws after the attack, and how to livestream the attack to send the footage to the ISIS media department, all of which are violations of U.S. laws.
The FBI is currently investigating potential threats against Jewish communities in New York.
Gregory Washington, the president of GMU, released a statement addressing the situation to the GMU community.
“I am writing to update you on a new situation we are managing relative to a student who was recently arrested by the FBI, as it has caused security concerns among some members of the community that I want to address,” Washington wrote in the letter.
He added that GMU has banned Hassan, a freshman majoring in information technology, from entering campus property.
Hassan is in the process of being deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents. Investigations are ongoing.
