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Imam at New Orleans Terrorist’s Local Mosque Says Jews ‘Like to Take Control of the Economy’
A member of the National Guard Military Police stands, in the area where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, Jan. 2, 2025. PHoto: REUTERS/Octavio Jones
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the man who according to law enforcement perpetrated the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, lived in Houston near a mosque led by a radical imam who preached that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler killed Jews because “they like to take control of the economy.”
The connection has raised questions about the ideology of Jabbar, a US Army veteran who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. The FBI revealed on Thursday that Jabbar acted alone and that on the morning of the truck ramming attack, in which at least 14 people were killed and dozens more were injured, he posted several videos on social media saying he supported ISIS. An ISIS flag was also found on the trailer hitch of the rented vehicle involved in the New Orleans attack. In one of his recordings, Jabbar revealed that he initially intended to hurt his friends and family, but changed plans because he wanted to bring attention to the “war between believers and the disbelievers.”
Amid heightened concern about the threat of Islamist terrorism, observers are noting that Jabbar may have been radicalized at Masjid Bilal, a mosque in the northern Houston community where he lived. According to footage published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on Thursday, Imam Eiad Soudan, leader of the Masjid Bilal mosque in Houston, told congregants in November 2023 that Jews seek to “control the economy” across the world and that Hitler perpetrated the Holocaust to mitigate Jewish economic power. Soudan also argued that Europe only supports Israel as a means to prevent Jews from migrating into their countries.
Eiad Soudan, Imam of Houston Mosque Where New Orleans Attacker Worshiped: Jews Seek to Control the Economy Wherever They Go, That’s Why Hitler Killed Them; Europeans Support Israel Because They Don’t Want Jews Back in Their Countries (Archival) pic.twitter.com/AFXc7cIC82
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 2, 2025
“Why does the whole world want them to stay in Palestine?” he said. “Because if they don’t stay in Palestine, they will go back to their countries, and those people, unfortunately, have one problem — well, they have many problems, but that’s one of the main problems — they like to take control of the economy. Everywhere they go, whatever is the rule, as long as they get to the goal, the means don’t matter.”
Although Masjid Bilal is reportedly located a few minutes walk from Jabbar’s residence, the extent of his connection to the mosque is unknown.
According to law enforcement, Jabbar was fatally shot by police when he exited his truck and opened fire after driving his vehicle into a crowd of New Year’s revelers.
On Thursday, New York Post reporter Jennie Taer led a tour of Jabbar’s purported home, which had been raided by the FBI. The residence contained a variety of harmful chemicals, including bottles of sulfuric acid. The tour also revealed a “work station” with tools located in a presumed bedroom. A closet within the home also contained a keffiyeh, a traditional headscarf worn by Palestinians that has become known as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and opposition to Israel.
Jabbar’s brother, Abdur Rahim-Jabbar, told Fox News that his sibling was likely radicalized by an extremist interpretation of Islam.
Experts have warned of a rising global terror threat in the year following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Last May, experts explained to The Algemeiner that “lone wolf” terrorists inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda could carry out attacks on US soil, incensed by the ongoing war in Gaza and inspired by terrorist violence abroad.
“As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a time when I’ve seen so many different threats, all elevated, all at the same time,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in April.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
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