‘This is what it means to be Jewish in America:’ N.J. rabbis respond to synagogue threats
Law enforcement officials say a broad online threat targeting New Jersey synagogues has been mitigated.
2 years ago
Hoboken Police officers stand watch outside the United Synagogue of Hoboken, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Hoboken, N.J. The FBI says it has received credible information about a threat to synagogues in New Jersey. The FBI's Newark office released a statement Thursday afternoon that characterizes it as a broad threat. The statement urged synagogues to "take all security precautions to protect your community and facility."(AP Photo/Ryan Kryska)
A man accused of posting a broad online threat last week that spurred heightened security at Jewish synagogues and schools in New Jersey is now facing charges, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville, is charged with transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce and was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Newark on Thursday afternoon, where he will be represented by a federal public defender. That office generally does not comment on cases.
Alkattoul used a social media app on Nov. 1 to send a link to a document entitled “When Swords Collide,” according to prosecutors, and he admitted to the person he sent it to that he wrote the document, stating: “It’s in the context of an attack on Jews.” According to the second individual, Alkattoul also sent the document to at least five other people using another social media application.
The FBI issued a statewide alert on Nov. 3 and announced a suspect had been identified the next day, but they did not identify him at that time. The warning prompted some municipalities across the state to send extra police officers to guard houses of worship and schools.
Alkattoul allegedly discussed his plan to kill as “an act of revenge” for the death of Muslims, authorities said. They have previously said they did not believe he had the means or motive to carry out any specific attack. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted of the charge he faces.
Public warnings about nonspecific threats against Jewish institutions, made by groups including Christian supremacists and Islamist extremists, aren’t unusual in the New York City area, and many turn out to be false alarms.
But the area has also seen deadly attacks, including the firebombings of two synagogues and an attack on a rabbi’s home in 2012, a fatal stabbing at a Hanukkah celebration in 2019, and a shooting in 2019 that killed three people in a kosher market and a police officer.
Outside the New York City region, the massacre that killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh four years ago left an indelible mark.