American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews
Pre-9/11 Activity
Posted: June 9, 2009
Muslim extremists motivated by hatred of Jews and Israel have targeted Jews and Jewish institutions in the U.S. for many years. Unlike many post-9/11 plots and conspiracies, which have involved or been led by American Muslim extremists, the role of Americans in a majority of the plots prior to 9/11 was significantly smaller.
For example, in July 1997, Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian living in the U.S. illegally, plotted to blow up a subway station in Brooklyn because he wanted to "kill as many Jews as possible." Police raiding Abu Mezer's apartment days before the planned attack found a fully-rigged pipe bomb, an unfinished bomb and a letter threatening to "burn the Jews." He chose the Atlantic Avenue station as his target because there are "a lot of Jews who ride that train." Abu Mezer later testified that he planned to send the letter to the FBI about the U.S.'s support for Israel. According to court documents, Abu Mezer stated that he was "taking the path of Jihad against Israel and the United States." Abu Mezer was sentenced to life in prison in 1999.
Many pre-911 incidents were partially motivated by anti-Semitism and planned or carried out primarily by foreign nationals. For example:
- In 1997, Ali Abu Kamal, a Palestinian, engaged in a shooting spree atop the Empire State Building, killing one person and injuring several others before killing himself. Kamal reportedly carried a note in his pocket indicating the attack was meant to vent his anger at the U.S. for using Israel as an "instrument" against the Palestinian people.
- In 1994, Rashid Baza, a Lebanese cab driver, opened fire at a van carrying 15 Hasidic students on the Brooklyn Bridge, killing a 16-year-old boy. After his arrest, authorities found anti-Jewish literature in his house.
- In 1993, a car bombing at Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City killed six people and wounded more than 1,000 others. Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the attack, first planned to bomb Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but settled on the World Trade Center because "the majority of people who work in the World Trade Center are Jews," according to Abdul Rahman Yasin, a co-conspirator in the attack.
- In 1993, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian cleric and alleged leader of the terrorist group Gama'a al-Islamiyya, led a plot to bomb five major landmarks in New York, including the United Nations Headquarters, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the George Washington Bridge and the FBI office in New York. In addition, he plotted to attack New York's diamond district, an area largely populated by Jews, which according to one of his co-defendants would be like "hitting Israel itself."
- In 1993, a Pakistani national murdered two CIA employees and wounded three others near the entrance of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, alleging that the "government of the United States has caused enormous damage to Muslims in the Middle East by supporting Israel and imposing economic sanctions against Islamic countries."
Even the 9/11 attacks were motivated, in part, by anti-Semitism. Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers, and Ramzi Binalshibh, a key planner of the attacks, considered New York City the center of a global Jewish conspiracy. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the hijackings, had previously planned several attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets.
Although post-911 plots and conspiracies in the U.S. are increasingly led by or involve American Muslim extremists, the threat from foreign nationals in the U.S. remains. For example, Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily, an Iraqi, purchased machine guns and grenades from an undercover agent to target two Jewish facilities in the Nashville area in 2004. Al-Uqaily had expressed animosity toward Jews and identified two Jewish facilities that he knew about, according to his plea agreement.
Any effort to combat the domestic terrorist threat posed by Muslim extremism must take into account both the threat from foreign nationals as well as the growing participation of American citizens motivated by hatred of Jews, Israel and America.
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