New Jersey man arrested for attempting to join Shabaab, inspired by support of Hamas

[Valin]

FDD Long War Journal

Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss

December 29, 2023

The U.S. Department of Justice has arrested an American citizen living in Egypt, who traveled to Kenya to join Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, in the wake of Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack and massacre in southern Israel. Karrem Nasr, a resident of New Jersey, has been charged with material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Nasr was “motivated by the heinous terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the DoJ press release that accompanied the criminal complaint.

Nasr was “bent on joining and training with al Shabaab so that he could execute his jihadist mission of death and destruction” and “prepared to kill and be killed to support the jihadist cause,” Williams said. “In his own words, he described America as ‘evil’ and the ‘head of the snake.’”

The FBI penetrated Nasr’s plot with the help of a confidential informant “who was posing as a facilitator for terrorist organizations.” The FBI provided screenshots of communications on X (formerly Twitter) between the confidential informant and Nasr in which the latter expressed his support for jihad and his desire to conduct terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

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