Federal prosecutors are accusing an Egyptian national living in the United States of promoting violence against Jews and plotting a “mass casualty” attack against an Israeli consulate.
The FBI arrested Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an 18-year-old George Mason University student living in Falls Church, Virginia, on Tuesday for allegedly operating multiple online accounts that praised ISIS and Al-Qaeda, according to court documents. The foreign national was allegedly plotting an attack on Israel’s General Consulate in New York City, a city he described as “a goldmine of targets.”
“On Tuesday, Virginia resident Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan was arrested by members of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, in Falls Church, VA, on federal charges,” according to an FBI statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The FBI’s New York Office wants to reassure our Jewish community here in New York that 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.”
“As always, we urge all community members to report suspicious activity to law enforcement and call 911 in cases of imminent violence or threats to life,” the statement continued. “We will continue working to ensure our communities remain safe places for all, and we thank the public for their continued trust and partnership.”
The FBI investigation into Hassan began after the Fairfax County Police Department received an anonymous tip in May that an X (formerly Twitter) account based in Virginia was engaging in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior,” according to court documents. Hassan posted numerous extremist statements online, such as “martyrs have been guaranteed paradise,” “Islam is a religion of justice, not peace,” denials that Hamas was a terrorist organization and praise of Obama bin Laden.
During the FBI’s investigation, a confidential human source within the agency engaged with Hassan on X, Telegram, Instagram and other online platforms, according to court documents. In these exchanges, Hassan bragged to the FBI source about ISIS growth in Afghanistan and West Africa, provided instructions on how to join ISIS, gave advice on how to create a martyrdom video and attempted to recruit the source to conduct a mass casualty attack.
In response to the arrest, George Mason University released a statement that Hassan — who was a freshman at the school — was not living on campus and has been banned from re-entering campus.
“Although the student did not live on campus, he has been barred from entering university property. As criminal proceedings progress, the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations,” university President Gregory Washington said in a public statement, announcing the rollout of additional on-campus security measures.
Hassan’s extremist activity had already been known by federal law enforcement officials for at least two years. Court documents show he had been previously interviewed by the FBI in 2022, when he was a minor, for his online support of ISIS.
The Egyptian national is currently in deportation proceedings with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, his history with the agency is not completely clear. A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
The arrest marks the latest foreign national who has attempted or successfully conducted an attack against Jewish individuals on U.S. soil. Sidi Mohamed Abdellahi, a 22-year-old Mauritian national who was living illegally in the country, was arrested in October for allegedly shooting a visibly Orthodox Jewish man walking to a Chicago synagogue and shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire at police and paramedics.
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