Terror Plot Raises Concern of Hate Materials in U.S. Prisons

A Federal Homeland Security car sits in front of the White Plains Federal Court in White Plains, New York. Four men were arrested Wednesday night in what was a plot to bomb a synagogue and Jewish center in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—Concerns have risen over extremist materials entering U.S. prisons following a foiled terror plot that targeted two Jewish synagogues and U.S. military aircraft. All four suspects are believed to have converted to a radical form of Islam while in prison.

The men behind the plot stood before a White Plains, N.Y. federal court Thursday where they were ordered to remain in jail. They are each being charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and conspiracy to use anti-aircraft missiles—both of which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that the plotted attack was shockingly similar to a failed terror plot in Los Angeles in 2005. In both cases, the men involved were suspected of adopting a radical form of Islam while serving prison sentences.

He told The Epoch Times on Thursday that his organization is writing to the U.S. attorney general about implementing a new policy that would ban from prisons all books, tapes, film, and other media that spread hatred against any religious group.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is a Jewish human rights organization that closely interacts with U.S. and foreign government officials on issues surrounding terrorism, hate, and antisemitism.

“We have to do more to stem the tide from these kinds of activities from happening in the future,” Cooper said, adding that prisons are a convenient recruiting ground for religious extremists as they are “a great reservoir of talent for their goals.”

“If you take someone who is already a criminal and you fill that person with a religious-inspired hate, you now have a foot soldier for terrorism,” Cooper said. “We need to work together to prevent this.”

The motive behind Wednesday’s foiled terror plot was anger over Muslims being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces, according to a Department of Justice press release.

Several members of the Muslim community have stressed that the men acted at their own will and have condemned the terror plot.

“We repeat the American Muslim community’s repudiation of bias-motivated crimes and of anyone who would falsely claim religious justification for violent actions,” said Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement.

CAIR is requesting that a connection not be drawn between mainstream Islam and religious terror groups.

A Failed Attack

On Wednesday night, James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen attempted to put their plan into action. They planted 37 pounds of disabled C-4 explosives, which they thought were active, in two cars parked outside the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx, New York.

Police and FBI agents arrested the four suspects soon after they left the synagogues.

Following the attack, the men planned to travel 60 miles north to an Air National Guard base at Stewart airport where they planned to shoot down military airplanes with surface-to-air guided stinger missiles.

The inactive explosives were supplied to the suspects by an FBI informant. The four suspects have been under investigation for close to a year prior to the incident.

Just following the arrests, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg congratulated the police and FBI agents for thwarting the attack. He added that the incident serve as a reminder to everyone.

“While the bombs these terrorists attempted to plant tonight were—unbeknownst to them—fake, this latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism,” Bloomberg said.