Pakistani National Pleads Guilty: Foiled ISIS-Inspired Attack on Jewish Centre in New York

A Pakistani national has pleaded guilty to planning an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on a Jewish centre in New York, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Hamas attacks, highlighting the ongoing threat of extremist violence.

Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as ‘Shahzeb Jadoon’, a Pakistani national residing in Canada, pleaded guilty to attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, for trying to enter the US and carry out a mass shooting with automatic weapons at a prominent Jewish centre in Brooklyn, New York.

Khan, 21, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before US District Judge Paul Gardephe to one count of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Eisenberg, said in a statement that Khan planned a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in New York City, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks, with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible.

“Khan declared that New York City was the ‘perfect’ venue for his attack because of its large Jewish population and boasted that his plot could be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11,” Eisenberg said.

Acting Assistant Director, Coult Markovsky from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said Khan planned to illegally enter the US and conduct an ISIS-inspired attack on the Jewish community around the one-year anniversary of the attacks in Israel by Hamas.

Assistant Director in Charge, James Barnacle Jr from the FBI New York field office, said Khan planned to inflict significant casualties and fear before he was intercepted 12 miles from the US northern border.

Details of the Attack Plot

As alleged in the charging documents and other public filings, in or about November 2023, Khan began posting on social media and communicating with others about his support for ISIS, including by distributing ISIS propaganda videos and literature.

Khan subsequently began planning terrorist attacks in the United States in support of ISIS, including by communicating his plans with two individuals who, unbeknownst to Khan, were undercover officers.

Khan told the undercover officers that he and a US-based associate had been planning to carry out a terrorist attack in a particular US city using AR-style assault rifles to “target Israeli Jewish chabads scattered all around” the city.

Khan repeatedly instructed the undercover officers to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials to carry out the attacks, and identified locations in the city where the attacks would take place.

Khan also told the undercover officers that he had identified a human smuggler who would help him cross the border from Canada into the United States for the attack.

In August 2024, Khan changed his target to New York City, telling the undercover officers that the target location would now be a prominent Jewish religious centre in Brooklyn.

Khan conveyed that he hoped to carry out this attack on or around October 7, 2024 – the one-year anniversary of the attacks in Israel carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Khan told the undercover officers that “New York is perfect to target Jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in America”, and, as such, “even if we don’t attack, “we could easily rack up a lot of Jews”.

Khan told the undercover officers that “we are going to NYC to slaughter them,” and later sent a photograph to the undercover officers of the specific enclosed area inside of the location where Khan planned to carry out his attack.

Khan continued to urge the undercover officers to acquire AR-style rifles, hunting knives and other equipment for the attack, and reiterated his desire to carry out the attack in support of ISIS.

During one such communication, Khan noted that “if we succeed with our plan, this would be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11”.

Arrest and Confession

In around September 2024, Khan attempted to reach the US-Canada border using a human smuggler.

Khan travelled from the vicinity of Toronto toward the United States, before he was stopped and arrested in Ormstown, Canada, approximately 12 miles from the US-Canada border.

During the hearing, Khan told Judge Paul G Gardephe as he pleaded guilty to a single charge of trying to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries that he was going to cross the border from Canada to the US in September 2024 with “the intention of killing Jewish people in Brooklyn”.

Khan said he was motivated to provide material support to the Islamic State group in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza.

He said he now regrets his plan, which included renting a space next to the Jewish centre.

“I was not raised this way,” Khan said, adding that what he planned to do was wrong.

Khan also said plotting to kill Jewish people was a “terrible, extremely dangerous and morally reprehensible idea”.

Gardephe set sentencing for August 12, when Khan could face up to life in prison.

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