Virginia man charged with planning 'mass casualty' attack at NYC Israeli consulate

A George Mason University student who was slated to be deported has been charged with planning an attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.

Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Muhammad Hassan allegedly provided bomb-making instructions and plans on how to attack the Manhattan consulate to an undercover FBI source, according to court documents. He was arrested Tuesday in Virginia, the FBI told Fox News Digital. 

Hassan is charged with distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of a federal crime. 

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"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 FBI said in a statement. 

"We will continue working to ensure our communities remain safe places for all, and we thank the public for their continued trust and partnership." 

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Hassan caught the FBI's attention after the Fairfax County Police Department informed federal authorities that a tipster alerted police about his social media posts on X. The tipster said the account engaged in "radical and terrorist-leaning behavior."

In several posts, Hassan praised the Islamic State terror group and other radical figures, federal prosecutors said. In August, he began messaging with an FBI confidential source whom he believed he recruited to conduct a "mass casualty attack," authorities said. 

Over several weeks, Hassan directed the informant on how to make a bomb, acquire weapons and how to make a "martyrdom video," authorities said. In November, he allegedly selected the Consulate General of Israel as the target of the attack, saying it would be easier to commit an attack using small arms and be "martyred" by the police.

He believed New York would be "a gold mine of targets" for an attack, prosecutors said. As the pair planned the attack, Hassan also allegedly told him to book flights to countries without extradition agreements with the United States. During the attack, Hassan said the source could either murder people at the consulate with an assault rifle or detonate an explosive vest while standing in a group of targets, court documents state.

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Hassan also asked for the source to livestream the attack so he could watch it in real time, authorities said. 

George Mason University President Gregory Washington condemned the "situation" in a statement issued Thursday, noting it prompted security concerns.

"[The] 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," Washington wrote in the statement. "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."

Acknowledging an unrelated police search in November involving two George Mason students, the university said it is taking "additional appropriate measures" to maintain the safety of the community. 

Recently implemented safety measures include a fully equipped university SWAT team, increased presence of uniformed university police officers, and the creation of a university threat assessment team and emergency operations group.

"These capabilities, plus more measures that by design remain invisible, form a protective web around the university campus that our proximity to the nation’s capital demands, with capabilities not always available to universities elsewhere," said Washington.

In a statement, Jonathan Harounoff, the international spokesperson for Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said the Jewish state "will not cower to terror."

"We will not be silent in the face of hate and violence," he said. "We will not stop in our pursuit of justice and peace. We will continue in our fight to return all 100 of our hostages still being held in Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza."

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Ofir Akunis, Israel's consul general in New York, expressed gratitude to authorities for thwarting the alleged attack. 

"This attempted attack by terror organizations is an attack on the sovereign soil of the State of Israel in its entirety," he wrote on X. "It's proof that terror knows no boundaries and that we must fight it everywhere and every time. The threat it poses to the western world and its values must be fought together by all western democracies alike. Together we will prevail."

The Fox 5 DC Digital Team contributed to this article.