Last month, a 19-year-old in Ohio, Tycen Proper, told his online network that he had a “possible target” for a terrorist attack the group was planning against a White House event — a US senator from Tennessee.

Asked why the senator should be assassinated, Proper allegedly told the group that she had received money from “the pro-Israel lobby and supports them.”

He followed up by naming four more Congress members affiliated with the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, according to court filings.

The purpose of the planned attack, Proper said, was to “jumpstart” a revolution in the US.

At the same time, law enforcement was preparing to arrest members of an anti-Zionist network centered around the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The Michigan suspects allegedly discussed killing, “terrorizing,” and torturing university regents, other targets connected to Israel, and their targets’ families.

The campaign’s end goal was a “revolution” and an “overthrow” of the United States, prosecutors said.

The two groups appeared to come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, however. The network targeting the White House event espoused a far-right Christian ideology, while the alleged Michigan conspirators aligned with the far left.

The cases illustrated how fringe activists on both the far left and far right see violent opposition to Israel and its US affiliates as a means to domestic revolution and overthrowing the government.

“Whether it’s Israel or Jewish issues, they’re often part of the worldview of those who take it to the next level to want to engage in violence,” said Oren Segal, the head of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “It’s part of the fabric of a conspiracy.”

Shared antipathy toward Israel and Jews

In addition to their shared revolutionary goals, the two groups converged in their antipathy toward Israel and Jews.

The Michigan activists idolized Hamas. They had the terrorist group’s propaganda stored on their electronic devices and traded “Hamas killing videos” with each other, prosecutors said in court filings.

On the first anniversary of the October 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, they allegedly carried out a vandalism spree against University of Michigan officials and the Jewish Federation of Detroit, including with inverted red triangles, a Hamas symbol.

One of the suspects, Colin Weger, had patches for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a sticker that said “Tie me to a missile and fire it at Tel Aviv,” a Hamas slogan.

Zainab Hakim, the group’s “ringleader,” wrote protest chants for the group, such as “Al Qassam make us proud,” referring to Hamas’s military wing.

One of the suspects had a flag in his apartment showing the late Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida and another, an aspiring doctor, said he had been thinking about “joining [the] Hamas medical wing.”

Suspect Jonathan Zou had images on his phone that said “death to the Jewish bastards.”

Proper’s family said he had been posting antisemitic content and statements in support of Adolf Hitler on social media.

His call to target members of Congress affiliated with Israel included information about how much money each lawmaker received “from pro-Israel PACs,” a court filing said.

Another defendant, Michael Alan Thomas, blamed government corruption on Jews and blamed Jewish people and Israel for the war with Iran.

One of the Michigan suspects had a painting showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloody, decapitated head, while the White House plotters believed Netanyahu would........

© The Times of Israel