Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen damaged a solar farm, Starbucks and McDonald’s in 2024
A photo of solar panels in Wedgefield, Florida, with cracked glass, submitted as evidence in a federal case against a Jordanian national charged with targeting various businesses he believed supported Israel. The photo was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, April 24, 2025. (Government photo)
(JTA) — A Jordanian national living in Florida was sentenced this week to six years in federal prison for attacking a series of businesses, including a solar farm, for their perceived support of Israel, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, had destroyed several solar panels at a facility in Wedgefield in June 2024, causing over $450,000 in damage, and left a letter threatening to use explosives to cause further damage, according to the department.
He was charged after allegedly leaving similar letters at a propane gas distributor in Orlando and, according to local reports, other area businesses, including two Starbucks locations and a McDonald’s, breaking the windows of some of these establishments.
Hnaihen’s letters, which he addressed to the United States president and government, threatened to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.” He was arrested in 2024 in a combined effort between the FBI, local and state police.
The Justice Department said Hnaihen was living illegally in Orlando. Court filings in the case described Hnaihen’s solar farm attack as bearing signs of premeditation and sophistication, intended to cause maximum damage to the equipment.
“Threatening to commit mass violence against American citizens and targeting businesses or institutions for destruction will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said in a release announcing Hnaihen’s sentencing.
Maitland, Florida, where Hnaihen targeted a McDonald’s, is also home to a Jewish community center, Jewish day school and Conservative synagogue, all located blocks from the site.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
