RSS
New Jersey Man Inspired by Hamas’s Oct. 7 Attack Pleads Guilty to Assisting Al Shabaab Terror Group
Palestinian terrorists ride an Israeli military vehicle that was seized by gunmen who infiltrated areas of southern Israel, in the northern Gaza Strip, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot
Karrem Nasr, a 24 year-old man from New Jersey, has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a US-designated terror group, with federal prosecutors noting that he was inspired by Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 to become a jihadist terrorist.
“Karrem Nasr devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies,” Danielle Sassoon, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement announcing the plea on Monday. “Inspired by the evil terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, Nasr, a US citizen, traveled from Egypt to Kenya in an effort to join al Shabaab so that he could execute his jihadist mission of creating death and destruction.”
The Palestinian terror group Hamas murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, kidnapped 251 hostages, and started the Gaza war with its Oct. 7 onslaught, which also included widespread sexual violence against the Israeli people.
“Now, instead of perpetrating a deadly attack in the name of a foreign terrorist group, Nasr resides in federal prison,” Sassoon added. “I thank the career prosecutors of my office and our law enforcement partners for their extraordinary work in disrupting this plan and bringing a terrorist to justice.”
In the US, attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Nasr is scheduled to be sentenced by a judge on June 30.
Nasr relocated from his home in New Jersey to Egypt around July 2023, according to the US Justice Department. In November of that year, he began repeatedly expressing his desire and plans to join al Shabaab, which is based in Somalia, including in communications with an undercover FBI informant pretending to be a recruiter for terrorist groups.
Further detailing his beliefs, Nasr explained to the informant that he hoped to receive training from al Shabaab, kill innocent people, and ultimately die on behalf of the organization’s jihadist goals.
“I would like to become a martyr in the sake of Allah … I think in coming years, inshallah we are going to see here big events in Egypt and the other Arab countries. Inshallah if this happens; I will come back to Egypt, inshallah to help the Muslims in Egypt in their struggle to establish here in Egypt,” he said in one communication, according to the Justice Department.
Al Shabaab has a history of calling for violence against Jews and Israel. In 2014, Sheikh Ali Dhere, a spokesperson for the group, publicly repudiated “the Americans who stood by the Jews in their aggression against the Muslims in Gaza.”
“Muslims must attack the Jews and their properties in every place, and they must pray for their brothers in Gaza,” he said at the time.
In both his discussions with the FBI and his online postings, Nasr communicated that he was particularly motivated to engage in terrorism by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel.
During his discussions, Nasr rebuked the United States as “evil” and lambasted the country as the “head of the snake.” He also warned that jihadist violence would “soon” happen across the US.
Experts have warned of a rising global terror threat in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel, explaining to The Algemeiner that “lone wolf” terrorists inspired by Islamist groups could carry out attacks on US soil, motivated by the Oct. 7 attack and war in Gaza.
The post New Jersey Man Inspired by Hamas’s Oct. 7 Attack Pleads Guilty to Assisting Al Shabaab Terror Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.