College student allegedly plotted ‘mass casualty attack’ targeting Jews

(VIRGINIA) — A Virginia college student is accused of plotting a “mass casualty attack” on the Consulate General of Israel in New York, according to court records.

The FBI arrested Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, 18, a student at George Mason University, this week in connection with the alleged plot targeting Jews, court records show.

The case began in May, when the Fairfax County Police Department informed the agency of an anonymous tip reporting an X account that engaged in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior,” according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant filed against Hassan in U.S. District Court in Virginia.

The account, which the FBI says it linked to Hassan, made posts in support of ISIS and al-Qaeda, according to the affidavit. Investigators say they also linked two other radical X accounts to Hassan, according to the affidavit.

An undercover FBI informant engaged with Hassan on one of the suspect’s X accounts in August, and the two communicated through various platforms for several months after the source pledged loyalty to Hassan, according to the affidavit.

Hassan was allegedly careful about covering his digital tracks, telling the informant that he “cannot be caught giving instructions about attack planning” because he “believed he was already being watched due to his past,” the affidavit stated. He was previously interviewed by the FBI in 2022 in part due to his “support for ISIS online,” according to the affidavit.

Hassan discussed with the source “how to travel to join ISIS” and shared ISIS propaganda, before allegedly recruiting the source in October to “conduct a mass casualty attack,” according to the affidavit.

Hassan allegedly sent the source a “pro-ISIS video that called for the killing of Jews” in mid-November, and in the ensuing weeks instructions on “how to prepare a martyrdom video” and bomb-making, according to the affidavit.

He allegedly picked the Consulate General of Israel as a target and continued to provide the source with support “regarding the manufacture and use of an explosive device and the planned attack,” the affidavit stated.

He also allegedly discussed conducting the attack with a firearm and provided instructions on how to buy a rifle to avoid being tracked down by authorities after the attack, according to the affidavit.

Hassan allegedly directed the source to make a video before the attack for ISIS media, and that if not martyred the source “will be famous,” according to the affidavit. He also allegedly instructed the source to livestream the attack so that he could “distribute it to the ISIS media department,” and discussed how to flee the country following the attack, according to the affidavit.

Hassan was arrested on Tuesday and charged with the distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of a federal crime of violence, court records show.

ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.

The suspect, a national of Egypt living in Falls Church, Virginia, was in removal proceedings with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the affidavit.

He did not live on campus at George Mason University and was barred from university property following his arrest, the school said.

“George Mason University continues to take enhanced precautions to maintain a safe and secure university community in light of the recent FBI arrest of one of its students,” the school said in a statement. “As criminal proceedings progress, the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations.”

Hassan remains in custody at the Alexandria Adult Detention Center, the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office confirmed to ABC News. He has not yet entered a plea, court records show.

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