U.S. citizen arrested and accused of planning to bomb U.S. Embassy office in Israel
A man was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Sunday following an alleged attempt to firebomb a branch office of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The man, named Joseph Neumeyer, is a dual American and German citizen and was detained in Israel on May 19 after a hostile confrontation in which Neumeyer spit on a security guard in front of the office earlier that day, according to the Justice Department.
The guard tried and failed to detain Neumeyer, who ditched the backpack he was carrying to break free, the statement said.
A search of the backpack he left behind at the embassy after the confrontation “revealed three rudimentary improvised incendiary devices commonly known as Molotov cocktails,” the statement added. Officials were able to track Neumeyer to his hotel, where he was arrested.
The Justice Department also said that Neumeyer, 28, posted the following on social media: “Join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv. Death to America, death to Americans, and f— the west.”
He also made threats on social media to assassinate President Donald Trump, the statement added.
Neumeyer claims in his social media profiles, verified by NBC News, that he is the founder and CEO of a company called Atlas Light Co. It was not immediately clear what the company does, and Neumeyer claims to have founded a number of startups.
Recent postings on Facebook suggest discontent with the West, specifically with the U.S. and Trump.
Neumeyer arrived in Israel last month but didn’t head to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv until May 19, the Justice Department said. It was not clear where in the country he was staying or what he was doing there prior to last week.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The Department will not tolerate such violence and will prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement after Israel turned Neumeyer over to the U.S. on Sunday.
FBI Director Kash Patel added in a statement, “This despicable and violent behavior will not be tolerated at home or abroad, and the FBI, working with our partners, will bring him to face justice for his dangerous actions.”
Neumeyer, who was deported to the U.S. by Israeli authorities, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
His arrest comes several days after two staffers who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington were killed leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
The suspect in that shooting, Elias Rodriguez, was later charged with two counts of first-degree murder. According to videos taken at the scene and posted to social media, Rodriguez shouted “Free, free Palestine” following his arrest.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke the day after the shooting, with Netanyahu condemning the act as a “horrifying antisemitic murder.”