NEW YORK: A dual US-German citizen was charged in a New York court Sunday on suspicion he tried to firebomb the United States’ mission in Tel Aviv earlier this week, the US Justice Department said.
Joseph Neumeyer, 28, was detained in Israel after the attack and deported to the United States, where he was arrested on arrival, court documents and a Justice Department statement said.
He was also accused of issuing assassination threats against US President Donald Trump.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said her department would “prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law.”
If convicted, Neumeyer faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, with a maximum fine of $250,000, the Justice Department said.
Neumeyer had traveled to Israel last month, according to statements from the Justice Department and the US attorney’s office in New York.
On May 19, he had posted on his Facebook account an invitation to “join me as I burn down the embassy,“ the statements said.
“Death to America, death to Americans, and f—k the west,“ he wrote, before going to the US diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv — a branch of the US embassy, which was moved to Jerusalem in 2018.
There, Neumeyer spit on a guard as he walked past the mission, and when the guard attempted to detain him, he broke free and ran off, leaving behind his backpack, the statement from the US attorney’s office said.
“Law enforcement recovered from Neumeyer’s backpack several bottles that had been turned into improvised incendiary devices, commonly known as ‘Molotov cocktails’,“ it said.
Law enforcement, which confirmed the presence of flammable fluid in the devices, later tracked Neumeyer to his hotel and arrested him.
After being deported to New York on Saturday, he appeared at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon, where he was ordered detained pending trial.
US authorities highlighted threatening posts alleged to have been posted by Neumeyer on social media.
“This defendant is charged with planning a devastating attack targeting our embassy in Israel, threatening death to Americans, and President Trump’s life,“ US Attorney General Bondi said.
“This despicable and violent behavior will not be tolerated at home or abroad,“ said FBI director Kash Patel.
Two days after Neumeyer’s alleged attempted attack in Tel Aviv, a man shot dead two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.
The attack was suspected to have been carried out in protest against Israel’s conduct of its war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
