An 18-year-old Middlesex County man has been arrested and charged in connection with a threat made to New Jersey synagogues late last week. Law enforcement officials said Omar Alkattoul of Sayreville is charged with transmitting a threat on social media, in which he talked about targeting a synagogue to attack Jewish people. The threat prompted warnings from the FBI in New Jersey of a broad security risk to synagogues across the state.
Authorities say Alkattoul admitted to writing the threatening document and using inflammatory language about relations between Jewish and Muslim people, telling a person he shared it with that the words were “in the context of an attack on Jews.” According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, Alkattoul was charged with one count of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce, punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Alkattoul was scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon in federal court in Newark.
