The British man who held Jews hostage at a Texas Reform synagogue claimed to have planted bombs in New York City, according to the head of a Jewish communal security service in New York, reports the New York Jewish Week via JTA)
UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York’s Mitch Silber offered new details, including an account of the phone calls between the suspect, Malik Faisal Akram, and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. Buchdahl had no prior contact with Akram, who according to Silber had learned her name thanks to her prominent social media presence. Akram demanded that one of the hostages, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, call Buchdahl on her cell phone, and that Akram told Buchdahl that he planned to kill the four hostages unless Aafia Siddiqui, a terrorism suspect serving time at a Texas prison, was released.
“Among Akram’s claims,” said Silber, “were that there were explosives planted in New York and Brooklyn, potentially in and around synagogues, and that he had associates in New York.”
Law enforcement determined this week that there is no basis to these claims.
{Matzav.com}
