18-year-old charged with sending ‘manifesto’ with threats to New Jersey synagogues
"I am the attacker," wrote Omar Alkattoul in a manifesto entitled "When Swords Collide," authorities said. The threats caused the FBI to issue a security alert to all synagogues in New Jersey.
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Federal authorities on Thursday charged an 18-year-old Sayreville man with transmitting a “manifesto” in which he wrote about targeting a synagogue and said it was written “in the context of an attack on Jews.”
“I am the attacker and I would like to introduce myself,” Omar Alkattoul wrote in the manifesto titled “When Swords Collide,” according to a release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. The manifesto had led the FBI to issue a statewide security alert for synagogues.
“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,” he wrote.
On Nov. 1, authorities said, Alkattoul used a social media application to send the document, admitted he wrote it, and added, “It’s in the context of an attack on Jews.” He additionally sent it to five other people.
On Nov. 3, the FBI’s field office in Newark issued a security alert and encouraged synagogues throughout the state to “take all security precautions to protect your community and facility.”
Alkattoul was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce via the internet. according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger. Officials characterized the manifesto as “containing threats to attack a synagogue and Jewish people.”
Alkattoul was scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen in Newark federal court.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” he wrote, according to the complaint.
Users on the social media application commented “good job” and “proud of you,” according to the complaint against Alkattoul.
The charge of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and officers with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.