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A manifesto posted by Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville in a forum frequented by extremists frightened the public, brought security to Jewish houses of worship and got the FBI involved last week.
The concern stemmed from a contention in the Nov. 1 post that an attack had already occurred -- which active shooters have done in certain instances across the U.S. just before carrying out their fatal missions.
The 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue killings, which was the deadliest attack on Jewish people on US soil, and racially motivated massacre at a Buffalo supermarket this past May were cited as two examples.
The FBI warned the Jewish community at large and sparked a surge of law enforcement tactical protection at New Jersey synagogues.
“Each and every" law enforcement agency in New Jersey "stood up" to "protect and communicate with our Jewish neighbors against hate,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said late last week.
"From direct contact to synagogue leadership, to uniformed and non-uniformed police presences at places of worship, our State Police, federal partners, county prosecutor’s officers, local police departments, sheriffs and other law enforcement moved swiftly to protect synagogues and Jewish centers," Platkin said.
“While this immediate threat has been mitigated, we know that others may follow and we know that hate continues to fester,” the attorney general added.
Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed in the U.S. from 941 in 2015 to 2,717 last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Alkattoul was arrested Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced a short time later.
He has a first appearance scheduled in U.S. District Court in Newark in the afternoon on charges of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce, the U.S. attorney said.
Alkattoul sent a message titled “When Swords Collide” via social media to someone last week with a link to his manifesto, saying that it was "in the context of an attack on Jews," Sellinger said.
Alkattoul "also sent the document to at least five other people using another social media application," he said.
According to a federal complaint on file in U.S. District Court, Alkattoul wrote:
"I am the attacker and I would like to introduce myself. . . I am a Muslim with so many regrets but I can assure you this attack is not one of them and Insha’Allah many more attacks like these against the enemy of Allah and the pigs and monkeys will come.
"I will discuss my motives in a bit but I did target a synagogue for a really good reason according to myself and a lot of Muslims who have a brain. Let’s be aware of the fact that the Jews promote the biggest hatred against Muslimeen even in the west. The Jews are in fact a very powerful group in the west which is why western countries today shill for them on top of the murtadeen in Saudi Arabia and every Arab country.
"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. The Jews support terror against the muslimeen and they always have . . . . So the motive of this attack is hatred towards Jews and their heinous acts and I don’t want anyone to tell me for a second that “not all Jews support terror against Muslims” yes they do! They have since day one. Their Torah justifies their acts and let’s keep in mind it was a Jew that tried to kill the nebi SAW."
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and task force officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark with identifying and capturing Alkattoul.
He also thanked agents of FBI field officers in New York, Washington, DC, and Florida, as well as the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Sayreville police.
“No one should be targeted for violence or with acts of hate because of how they worship,” the U.S. attorney said.
"Along with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we acted swiftly to respond to the alleged threat," Sellinger said. "Protection of these communities is core to this office’s mission, and this office will devote whatever resources are necessary to keep our Jewish community and all New Jersey residents safe.”
Handling the case for the government are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Peck, Christopher Amore, and Benjamin Levin of the U.S. Attorney’s National Security Unit, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division.
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