Authorities foil plot to murder Jews in New York on Oct 7 anniversary

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A 20-year-old Pakistani male was arrested in Canada this week for plotting the mass slaughter of Jews at a Jewish community center in Brooklyn, New York.

According to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the suspect, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, began his journey from Canada, where he resides, to New York City with the "stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible." He was planning to carry out the attacks with an accomplice based in the United States.

“As I said to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety yesterday, we are deeply grateful to our Canadian partners for their critical law enforcement actions in this matter,” Garland said in a statement.

“Jewish communities – like all communities in this country – should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack,” he added.

Khan planned to commit the terrorist attack on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, indicating in his online messages that Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 were ideal dates "for targeting the Jews" because, “Oct 7 they will surely have some protests and Oct 11 is Yom Kippur.”

According to Khan, he chose New York as the target because of the large Jewish population and had even chosen a specific area inside the Chabad center.

“New York is perfect to target Jews” he told undercover police in his messages, because it has the “largest Jewish population in America” and, therefore, “even if we dont attack a[n] event[,] we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.”

In his messages, Khan also said that he and his accomplice needed AR-style rifles, ammunition, hunting knives and other materials for the attacks, according to the Justice Department.

Also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, Khan was arrested in Canada on Wednesday and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). At the time of the arrest, he was in a vehicle with other passengers, making his way from the Toronto area just 19 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the international border.

Khan is scheduled to appear in the Superior Court of Justice in Montreal on Sept. 13, however, it is unclear where in Canada he is being detained.

“This planned antisemitic attack against Jewish people in the US is deplorable and there is no place for such ideological and hate-motivated crime in Canada,” said Michael Duheme, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in a statement.

As early as last November, Khan began sharing ISIS propaganda videos and voicing his support for the terrorist group on social media and in encrypted messaging, U.S. authorities noted.

He was seeking to start a local ISIS terror cell offline to attack “Israeli Jewish chabads,” in the United States, Khan told undercover police, referring to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Chabad-Lubavitch, which has its headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

In his online messaging, he named the Chabad headquarters as the “ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews world headquarters,” according to authorities.

Khan faces up to 20 years in prison for plotting the terror attack.