Man arrested in ISIS-inspired plot to ‘massacre’ Jews in New York, prosecutors say

A Pakistani national living in Canada planned to massacre as many Jews as possible before being charged with trying to provide material support to ISIS, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was arrested this week in Canada, where he planned to travel to New York to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, according to the criminal complaint.

Khan began posting on social media and communicating on an encrypted messaging app about his support for ISIS last November, according to the complaint. He then began communicating with two undercover law enforcement officers, allegedly telling them about a “coordinated attack” using AR-style rifles to “target Israeli Jewish Chabads.”

Khan reportedly told the intelligence agents that October 7 and 11 “are the best days to target Jews.” October 7 marks the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and October 11 is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.

Khan boasted that “New York is perfect for targeting Jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in America” ​​and therefore, “even if we don’t attack a(n) Event(,) We could easily round up a lot of Jews.” Khan proclaimed that “we’re going to New York to slaughter them,” and sent a photograph of the specific area inside a location where he planned to carry out the attack, according to the criminal complaint.

“The defendant is charged with planning a terrorist attack in New York City on or about October 7 of this year with the stated goal of massacring, in the name of ISIS, as many Jews as possible,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.

“Jewish communities – like all communities in this country – should not be afraid of being the target of a hate-motivated terrorist attack,” Garland said.

Khan is charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.