Virginia Student Arrested on Charge of Bomb Plot Against Israeli Consulate
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia college student was charged this week in federal court with plotting a mass casualty attack against the Israeli consulate.
Egyptian national Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan is accused of planning to use a bomb and guns for an attack in New York.
The 18-year-old college freshman came to the attention of the FBI through his use of social media. FBI records describe him as engaging in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior.”
He accessed videos on bomb-making. He also praised Osama bin Laden as his “idol” on one X account while bragging about his own postings containing antisemitic and terrorist propaganda on other accounts.
Hassan was an information technology major at George Mason University until university officials banned him from campus this week after the court filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Much of the evidence against Hassan is based on his social media posts, particularly the ones he used to try to recruit an unnamed person to help carry out a mass casualty attack.
The unnamed person was an undercover FBI informant posing as a terrorist sympathizer.
Last month, he sent the person an ISIS-inspired video calling for the killing of Jews, according to court documents.
During a Nov. 22 exchange of messages, Hassan allegedly wrote that the unnamed person should “aim for government buildings, use a Zastava rifle if you can access one to carry out your attack … or buy a 3d printed gun and just buy ammunition.”
The next day, Hassan told the same person that it was easier to be “martyred” by police during an attack than to do a suicide bombing, prosecutors said.
He also said New York was a “goldmine of targets” and sent the address for the Israeli Consulate general.
Several of Hassan’s posts discussed guarantees of paradise for martyrs.
The FBI reported that Hassan knew how to conceal his digital tracks on social posts. Nevertheless, investigators were able to trace his phone and home IP address.
Reports of Hassan’s arrest by the FBI prompted George Mason University President Gregory Washington to send an advisory to students and staff.
“Although the student did not live on campus, he has been barred from entering university property,” the advisory said. “As criminal proceedings progress, the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started proceedings against Hassan that would force him to be deported after his criminal case and possible prison sentence are completed.
The charges against him include distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of federal crime of violence as well as demonstrating how to manufacture an explosive with intent to murder internationally protected persons.
Hassan is being represented by a public defender, who has declined to comment.
The arrest of Hassan continues controversy at George Mason University over pro-Palestinian student activism and whether school officials act within their rights to punish the activists.
Last month, the university instituted a four-year ban against two sisters who were the current and past presidents of the campus Students for Justice in Palestine. The ban followed a police search of their family home that turned up guns, ammunition and insignia calling for death to Jews.
Their attorney said they were victims of racial profiling.
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