A man was arrested after making online threats against Jews, which prompted statewide security precautions at synagogues last week.
Omar Alkattoul, or Sayreville, New Jersey, was charged with making an online threat to injure others. He is due to make his first appearance in court on Thursday afternoon.
Alkattoul, 18, was arrested after he posted a document he wrote on an unidentified social media site entitled ‘When Swords Collide.’
According to a federal criminal complaint, Alkattoul also expressed interest in violence against LGBTQ people, Christians and churches, and Shia Muslims, but Jews and synagogues seemed to be his primary fixation and the main topic of his document.
‘I actually started writing it a long time ago. If you want I will link it. It’s in the context of an attack on Jews,’ Alkattoul said when he shared the file.
Alkattoul shared it in a group that the FBI believes had about 20 members. Another individual, who was not named in the filing, told Alkattoul ‘good job’ and ‘proud of you’ in comments.
The document appears to be a manifesto or acknowledgement of an attack that hasn’t happened yet. ‘I did target a synagogue for a really good reason according to myself and a lot of Muslims who have a brain,’ he writes in the introduction.
Alkattoul continues: ‘This attack was just to remind the Jews that as long as 1 Muslim remains in this world they will never live a pleasant life until the Muslims in Palestine, Syria, West Africa, and South Asia are living a pleasant life.’
After posting the document, Alkattoul was questioned by police and the FBI. Although he admitted to posting the document he told investigtors that he didn’t ‘have the balls’ to go through with any of his plans. He also said that he was too afraid to ‘serve a prison term, get shot, or die.’
When questioned by police, Alkattoul said the group chat consisted of individuals ‘LARP-ing’ as terrorists or members of al-Qaeda. ‘LARP’ stands for ‘live-action role playing.’ LARPers play fictional characters and live out fantasies in real-world environments.
He also claimed the ‘When Swords Collide’ document was a part of the same LARP.
However, a search of Alkattoul’s phone records revealed to investigators a disturbing obsession with mass shootings, including the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooting, the 2015 Charleston church shooting, and the Beslan school siege – which saw the death of 333 people, including 186 children, at the hands of Chechen terrorists at a Russian elementary school.
He also professed admiration for white nationalist mass shooter Dylann Roof, who is currently serving 9 consecutive life sentences for the attack on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Earlier in October, Alkattoul also sent anther group member an audio recording of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS and its current leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
In another series of encrypted messages, he seems to tell others in his group chat about more concrete plans he has been making: ‘Yeah so basically about 2 months ago I told [Individual 4] and [Individual 7] that I was planning an attack but it’s gonna take me years to prepare for it because I don’t have items and my parents do not like guns.’
He continued: ‘I said I could be targeting a synagogue or gay night club. And this would be AQ [al-Qaeda] affiliated attack.’
Alkattoul faces a maximum prison sentence of five years if convicted, as well as a potential fine of up to $250,000.
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