DOJ: Jordanian citizen in Orlando made threats, damaged businesses for supporting Israel

ORLANDO, Fla. — The United States Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Jordanian citizen living in Orlando Thursday, accused of threatening to use explosives and causing hundreds of dollars in damage to an energy facility in protest of what he perceived to be support for Israel.

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Action News Jax’s sister station WFTV reports that 43-year-old Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen was charged with 4 counts of threatening to use explosives and 1 count of destruction of an energy facility for targeted attacks on businesses in the Orlando area that began back in June.

According to the Department of Justice, Hnaihen wore a mask and operated under the cover of darkness as he smashed storefronts and left behind multiple “warning letters” addressed to the United States Government, making political demands and threatening to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories” that support what he called the “racist state” of Israel.

Hnaihen is accused of breaking into a solar power facility in Wedgefield in late June and spending hours “systematically” destroying solar panel arrays, cutting wires, and targeting critical electronic equipment, causing more than $700,000 in damage.

CLICK HERE to read the full story by WFTV.

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