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American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews
Introduction
Posted: June 9, 2009
Updated: July 18, 2011
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, an alarming number of Americans motivated by radical interpretations of Islam have been involved in terrorist plots and conspiracies in which Jews and Jewish institutions have been targeted or considered for attack. Many other American Muslim extremists arrested or convicted of a wide-range of terror-related charges have expressed similar hatred of Jews and Israel.
Since 9/11, more than 170 American Muslim extremists have been arrested on various terror-related charges, ranging from bomb plots to providing material support to terrorists. More than half of those arrested are U.S.-born, and roughly one third are converts to Islam.
While most of the plots in the U.S. have been foiled by law enforcement before they were carried out, a May 2009 plot targeting two New York synagogues demonstrates the dangers posed by American Muslim extremists motivated by hatred of Jews and Israel.
Three American Muslim converts and one Haitian national allegedly plotted to attack synagogues in the Bronx and to shoot down airplanes at a military base in Newburgh, New York. "These were people who were eager to bring death to Jews," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder said at a court hearing the day after the arrests. All four suspects reportedly converted to Islam while in prison, reminiscent of a similar plot hatched in a Los Angeles prison to attack Jewish and military targets in 2005.
The threat posed by American Muslim extremists has also extended overseas. In December 2009, American citizen David Coleman Headley was charged for his involvement in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed more than 170 people. In the years leading up to the attacks, Headley conducted extensive surveillance of the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement and of the other targeted locations, reportedly posing as a Jew during an earlier visit to the Jewish center. In March 2009, four months after the Mumbai terror attacks, Headley conducted additional reconnaissance of Chabad houses and Jewish centers in several other cities in India and once again reportedly posed as a Jew to gain access to the Jewish centers.
Headley and other American Muslim extremists have been influenced, to some degree, by the ideologies of extreme intolerance propagated by terrorist movements overseas. American Muslims have garnered access to such extreme ideologies and messages of violence through sermons, videos and other terrorist material disseminated via the Internet. Others have been radicalized in their home communities by a charismatic leader or recruiter or are motivated to commit violent or criminal acts by their own radical interpretations of Islam.
The following demonstrate the significant and growing domestic terror threat posed by American Muslims extremists motivated by hatred of Jews and Israel.
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