Photo: Marko Djurica/ Reuters
On Sunday, the US Federal Prosecutor’s Office filed serious charges against 28-year-old Joseph Neumayer, a US and German citizen, for attempting to set fire to a branch of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. According to CBS News, citing official sources, the incident took place on 19 May.
Neumeyer approached the diplomatic mission with a backpack containing three bottles of improvised explosive devices. As he passed a security guard, he spat on him and tried to run away, but left the backpack in place when he was chased.
According to the investigation, the suspect arrived in Israel in April and managed to publish calls for violence on social media:
“Death to America, death to Americans, and to hell with the West,” he wrote.
Israeli police detained Neumayer at a hotel nearby and promptly deported him to the United States. On 24 May, he was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The same day, he appeared in federal court in Brooklyn.
He is charged with attempting to destroy state property with explosives. If proven guilty, the man faces up to 20 years in prison.
