The FBI has arrested a student at George Mason University in Virginia for allegedly plotting a mass casualty attack on the Israeli consulate in New York. The student, an Egyptian national named Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, faces federal charges related to distributing information on explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
Hassan, who is a freshman majoring in information technology at George Mason University, came to the FBI's attention through a tip regarding his social media activity earlier this year. The tipster reported Hassan's radical behavior online, including posts revering Osama bin Laden and promoting violence against Jews.
An undercover FBI informant communicated with Hassan, who allegedly recruited the informant to conduct a mass casualty attack. Hassan provided bomb-making instructions and links to purchase weapons for the attack, including the address of the Israeli consulate in New York.
George Mason University President Gregory Washington stated that the arrested student has been banned from campus property, and the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations as the criminal proceedings progress.
This arrest comes amid rising threats against Jews, Palestinians, and Muslims in the US. Earlier this month, two sisters associated with Students for Justice in Palestine were banned from the George Mason University campus for four years after authorities found firearms and anti-Semitic insignia at their family home.
President Washington clarified that the recent arrest is not connected to the previous police action involving the two students associated with Palestinian human rights advocacy. Advocacy groups and faculty members have called on the university to revoke the trespass orders against the two students.
