Plot to attack US foiled: Young man identifying with ISIS planned to poison food in synagogues

Jonathan Hunter Kramer, a 21-year-old from Pennsylvania, was arrested on suspicion of planning a mass attack inspired by ISIS, with a preference for targeting synagogues. Investigators located him with a semi-automatic rifle, magazines, and ammunition. Kramer, previously convicted for planning an attack, spread propaganda online under the name "Hamza al-Rashid" and sought poison to introduce into food at events. The FBI tracked him and arrested him after he rented a hotel room near a Jewish center. The Justice Department is seeking to hold him without bail.

Jonathan Hunter Kramer, a 21-year-old from Valencia, Pennsylvania, was arrested on suspicion of planning a mass attack inspired by the terrorist organization ISIS, with a preference for targeting synagogues. According to the U.S. Justice Department, investigators thwarted the plot after locating him with a semi-automatic rifle, magazines, and ammunition. Kramer, previously convicted as a minor for planning a mass-casualty attack, swore allegiance to then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He spread propaganda online under the name "Hamza al-Rashid" and sought lethal poison to introduce into food at events, with a preference for synagogues. The FBI tracked him and arrested him after he rented a hotel room near a Jewish center. The Justice Department is seeking to hold him without bail, arguing he is a danger to the public. The explicit mention of synagogues in the investigation documents gives the case a particularly sensitive angle, in light of the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.