FBI Arrests Man Who Wanted To Shoot Pro-Israel Marchers, Bomb Trump Tower

People march in front of Trump Tower during the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on June 3, 2018 in New York City. Image by Kena Betancur/Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten May 22, 2019

NEW YORK (JTA) — A man from New Jersey who allegedly wanted to shoot pro-Israel rallygoers and bomb Trump Tower was arrested for trying to provide support to Hamas.

Jonathan Xie, 20, of Basking Ridge, was arrested Wednesday, according to WABC-TV. He allegedly made various threats on Instagram, including that he wanted to “shoot everybody” at a pro-Israel march and “bomb Trump Tower.”

He also allegedly displayed a Hamas flag in a video and declared support for Bashar Assad, Saddam Hussein and North Korea, ABC 7 reported.

Xie had considered joining the U.S. Army “to learn how to kill … So I can use that knowledge,” according to court records.

Last month, FBI observed Xie outside the Trump Tower in New York. Later Xie allegedly wrote on Instagram, “I forgot to visit the Israeli embassy in NYC … i want to bomb this place along with Trump Tower.”

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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