Plot Was ‘Targeting Heart’ of New York’s Jewish Community, Tisch Says

“The commander of an Iranian-backed militia who was charged with planning an attack on a New York synagogue was ‘targeting the heart of our Jewish community,’ Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said on Friday, hours after federal prosecutors said that they had thwarted the plot. The commander, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, who had organized at least 20 attacks in Europe and Canada, had also planned to kill Americans and Jews in Los Angeles and had set his sights on a synagogue in Manhattan, Ms. Tisch said. She did not name the synagogue but said Mr. al-Saadi had chosen a place that supported Israel and Zionism.”