NJ Synagogue Threats Inspired By ISIS: Feds

SAYREVILLE, NJ — Federal authorities publicly identified the person they recently accused of threatening to attack synagogues and Jewish people. Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville, sent a message on social media with a document that stated, "It’s in the context of an attack on Jews," the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Alkattoul was charged with one count of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce. He's scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen in Newark federal court.

In the document, the man called Osama bin Laden a hero and said he'd carry out the attack on behalf of the Islamic State — the terrorist organization also known as ISIS — the DOJ said. Court documents also show Alkattoul supporting Dylann Roof — a white supremacist neo-Nazi who killed nine people, all of them Black, at a South Carolina church in 2015.

Additionally, Alkattoul spoke to an individual, who he believes is linked to al-Qaeda, about conducting attacks on Jewish and gay people and targeting synagogues or gay clubs, according to court documents.

The FBI warned Nov. 3 of "credible information of a broad threat to synagogues" in New Jersey. The suspect was apprehended the next morning, according to federal authorities. But up until Thursday's announcement, law enforcement revealed almost no details about the suspect. Read more: Suspect Apprehended After Threats To NJ Synagogues: Police

The New Jersey man said he became radicalized through communications on social media, according to court documents. Authorities have deemed online radicalization a contributing factor in several mass attacks around the U.S., including recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Highland Park, Illinois.

Alkattoul sent a document via social media to an individual Nov. 1 that stated "I am the attacker," according to the DOJ. A second person told authorities that the teen sent the document to at least five other people, court documents state.

The document contains several antisemitic tropes, including the false claim that all Jewish people support terror against Muslims.

Alkattoul agreed to let police search his iPhone last Friday — the day law enforcement identified him as the person behind the threats — according to court documents.

"I actually started writing this a long time ago," Alkattoul wrote to one of the document's recipients, according to the DOJ. "It's in the context of an attack on Jews."

According to Alkattoul's criminal complaint, the document contained several sections with antisemitic titles, including "Why hatred towards Jews is a good thing even if they're not Zionists" and "The 'Holocaust' (sic)."

Alkattoul told police he became "radicalized" through social media, according to court documents. His radicalization began after viewing posts that he said contained screenshots of a video in which Kahanists laugh and share photos of dead Arab children, the DOJ says. Kahanism supports the development of a Jewish theocratic state in which non-Jews have no voting rights. The Kach Party, which supports the ideology, has been banned by the Israeli government, and the U.S. State Department designated them a foreign terrorist organization in 2004.

The suspect then used an encrypted social media app to view ISIS propaganda and communicate with others encouraging him to carry out an attack, according to court documents. Alkattoul spoke with someone he believed was affiliated with al-Qaeda and located in Pakistan about attacking Jewish and gay people, along with someone in Germany who guided Alkattoul on how to protect his iPhone communications from law enforcement, the DOJ said.

Alkattoul researched how to obtain a gun, shooting ranges and mass shootings, according to the DOJ. He told law enforcement that he was "50/50" as of Oct. 29 on whether he'd commit such an attack, court documents state.

The New Jersey man said in an application that "God cursed the Jewish people and God should burn gay people," the DOJ says. In September, Alkattoul said in a group chat that he would "punch in the face or curb stomp the next (homophobic slur) he saw," the criminal complaint states.

Alkattoul told law enforcement that he saw information in a group chat about making bombs, but he never personally looked into it, according to court documents.

The man sent a private message Aug. 30 that contained a video and photo montage of Roof, according to court documents. One person said, "(M)e in a (S)hia mosque," and Alkattoul then responded, "Me in a church and synagogue," authorities said.