Tipsheet

George Mason Student Charged in Plot to Kill Jews

What is it with George Mason University and harboring terrorists? The Virginia college now has multiple cases where radicalized pro-Palestinian students have engaged in activities that go beyond anti-Israel advocacy. We have weapons of mass destruction and terrorism charges now. Meet Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, 18, who’s been slapped with federal charges after showing an undercover agent how to bomb the Israeli consulate in New York. It comes off the heels of two sisters, also students at George Mason, whose home was riddled with ammunition, firearms, and foreign passports, along with flags that read “death to Jews” on them  (via WaPo): 

A Virginia college student has been charged with a weapon-of-mass-destruction offense, and federal prosecutors said he plotted an attack on Israel’s general consulate in New York using a bomb, assault rifle or suicide vest. 

Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, a freshman at George Mason University, faces one count of demonstrating how to manufacture an explosive with intent to murder internationally protected persons, which carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors may add other charges as the investigation proceeds. The university has banned him from campus. 

U.S. officials said Hassan, an Egyptian national, is currently in deportation proceedings. That process probably would be delayed until the criminal case is resolved and Hassan completes any sentence if he is convicted. A public defender for Hassan, Cadence Mertz, declined to comment. 

News of the charge comes as George Mason has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over pro-Palestinian student activism and the discipline the university has imposed on some demonstrators. That includes a four-year campuswide ban for two sisters, the current and past presidents of the George Mason chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, after a law enforcement search of their family home last month turned up relatives’ guns, ammunition and insignia calling for death to Jews. It was not clear whether the firearms were related to the sisters’ ban; their attorney labeled the action racial profiling. 

Guy had more about the Chanaa sisters, who caught the attention of local police when the GMU student center was vandalized with graffiti that read, “student intifada.” The vandalism reportedly cost thousands of dollars, leading to authorities securing a search warrant for Jena and Noor Chanaa. The contents of the search warrant won’t be released until February: 

When officers entered the Chanaa family home, they found firearms—modern weapons, not antiques—as well as scores of ammunition and foreign passports, all of which sat in plain view, according to court documents obtained by the Free Beacon and sources familiar with the investigation. They also found pro-terror materials, including Hamas and Hezbollah flags and signs that read "death to America" and "death to Jews," according to court documents and sources familiar.  

[…] 

Under Jena and Noor's leadership, George Mason’s chapter of SJP has endorsed Hamas and its "martyrs." In a statement issued two days after the Oct. 7 attack, the group lauded the "liberation of the Palestinian people" and endorsed "the right to resist for Palestinians living under the zionist occupation." It said "Palestinian resistance fighters" mobilized "into surrounding occupied areas" on Oct. 7, "reclaiming land and settlements considered illegal" in the name of "decolonization." "Decolonization entails the struggle for liberation of a colonized people from the grasp of their colonizers," the statement read. "This struggle for the much-sought after liberation from the colonizer is not meant to be metaphysical—but material." "Every Palestinian is a civilian even if they hold arms. A settler is an aggressor, a soldier, and an occupier even if they are lounging on our occupied beaches." 

The Trump Justice Department has their work cut out for them when it comes to uprooting the radical elements that have entrenched themselves in our higher education system and, in return, declared war on their respective Jewish student bodies.