Man pleads guilty to planning mass-terror plot against Jews in New York

A man has pled guilty to planning acts of terrorism against the Jewish community in New York city, talking about his desire to “slaughter” Jews in an attack which was planned for the one-year anniversary of the Hamas 7 October mass-terror attacks.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, a Pakistani national who was residing in Canada at the time, was arrested in early September 2024 as he was travelling to cross the border into the United States.

As described by the US Justice Department, Khan, 21, began displaying online support for ISIS from November 2023, including “distributing ISIS propaganda videos and literature”. This led to Khan communicating with individuals in the US, discussing his intentions to carry out a terror attack against Jews in America. Khan was unaware that he was communicating with undercover members of law enforcement.

The justice department described how Khan had attempted to get those he was communicating with to buy guns and ammunition to carry out the attack against Jews, as well as knives, to “slit their throats”.

According to the government, Khan instructed the undercover officers to obtain assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials in order to carry out the attack, telling them that he had identified a human smuggler who could help him cross the border from Canada into the US. Initially he set out his intentions to “target Israeli Jewish chabads… scattered around the city,” without naming the city in question. However, Khan later specifically identified a Brooklyn Jewish community centre as the target, telling undercover officers, “”New York is perfect to target Jews because it has the largest Jewish population in America. Even if we don’t attack an event, we could easily rack up a lot of Jews… we are going to slaughter them.”

Khan was arrested in Canada in September 2024 as he drove from Toronto towards the US border. He was successfully extradited to the US in 2025. The US Justice Department confirmed on Wednesday that he had pled guilty “attempting to commit acts of terrorism… and carry out a mass shooting with automatic weapons at a prominent Jewish centre in Brooklyn, New York.”

Earlier this year, two men in the UK were given life sentences after being convicted of preparation of terrorist acts, against the Manchester Jewish community. In another ISIS-inspired plot, Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussain had conspired to attack a Jewish rally in Manchester’s city centre with the intention of then moving north in the city to neighbourhoods with large Jewish communities, to continue killing there. Saadaoui corresponded in detail with an undercover officer, attempting to arrange the delivery of assault rifles to carry out the attack. The planning for the UK plot took place between December 2023 and May 2024.

Regarding the New York terror plot, John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said:

“Khan planned a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in New York City, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 7 October  Hamas attacks, with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible.

“Khan declared that New York City was the ‘perfect’ venue for his attack because of its large Jewish population and boasted that his plot could be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11. The National Security Division will work tirelessly to ensure that terrorists like Khan face the full weight of American law.”

The FBI’s acting assistant director, Coult Markovsky, said that with this guilty plea, Khan would “now face the consequences of planning a mass shooting in New York City that might have killed or injured many people. I want to thank the FBI teams and our partners for their work to prevent an attack and bring this individual to justice.”