"To be famous forever": The killers in the US mosque attack planned to reach a synagogue as well

Authorities in the United States have revealed that the two teenagers who murdered three people at an Islamic center in San Diego in May planned to carry out two additional attacks on the same day: at the "Kehilat Ariel" synagogue in the city and at a public high school where mostly black students study. According to the prosecution, the response of the mosque's security guard, Amin Abdullah, who shot one of the gunmen before being killed, cut short the killing spree and prevented the two from continuing to their next targets.

The details were revealed with the filing of an indictment against 17-year-old Sarah Lindsey Santiago from North Carolina. A grand jury approved prosecuting her as an adult on three counts of first-degree murder, for aiding and abetting murder, and on an additional count of conspiracy. She is in custody without bail and could face life imprisonment.

Although Santiago was thousands of miles from the scene of the massacre, the prosecution views her as a partner due to her role in the planning and distribution. "She was part of the group, she was a partner in the killing," said District Attorney Jim O'Neill. According to the indictment, Santiago met the shooters, 18-year-old Caleb Vasquez and 17-year-old Kane Clark, online, but she never met them in person. Before the attack, she agreed with them that she would record the live broadcast from GoPro cameras attached to their helmets, distribute the video, and publish their manifesto. She even purchased for Vasquez a patch with the "Black Sun" symbol, which originated in the Nazi era and was adopted by neo-Nazi organizations, and sent it to him to wear during the shooting.

Santiago was one of only three people who watched the original broadcast. According to the prosecutor, the three operated in an online space that was an "echo chamber of hate" and planned to distribute the massacre so that the shooters would be "famous forever." At the beginning of the investigation, authorities only knew that the viewer was a woman on the East Coast. More than a hundred testimonies, about 30 search warrants, and the examination of about four million messages eventually led to Santiago's arrest. Her attorney, Ellen Dorasmi, stated that she is innocent and that the investigation materials have not yet been transferred to her.

The massacre took place on May 18, when about 140 children were at the school operating within the Islamic center complex. Vasquez and Clark murdered the security guard Abdullah (51), Mansour Kaziha (78), and Nadir Awad (57). Abdullah managed to wound one of the shooters and activate a lockdown procedure that protected the children. The two fled the scene, shot a gardener who survived, and later took their own lives in their car.

The "Kehilat Ariel" synagogue is located about 2.5 kilometers from the Islamic center. The manifesto left by the killers contained hate speech against Jews, Muslims, blacks, LGBT, women, and people of both right and left-wing views. They cited the terrorist who murdered 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 as one of their sources of inspiration and wrote that their goal was to accelerate the collapse of society. The community rabbi, Barney Kasdan, said that "somehow God steered them away from the Kehilat Ariel community, if that was their intention. There is no place for hate." According to him, armed security guards are stationed at the synagogue at every major event.

Universities did not protect Jews

Meanwhile, the US Department of Education has opened civil rights investigations against San Jose State and San Francisco State public universities in California, on suspicion that they did not protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. According to the department's announcement, complaints were received regarding threats, the ostracization of Jews in classrooms, disruption of classes, physical assaults, and antisemitic graffiti.

Among the cases being investigated in San Jose is an email attributed to the university's vice president for student affairs, in which a distinction was allegedly made between "good Jews" and "bad Jews" based on their positions regarding the Israeli government. The university administration denied the claim and stated that "this statement was never made by a representative of the university." In recent months, antisemitic inscriptions and threats against Jews have also been found on campus. In a separate case, an indictment was filed against a graduate student after his fingerprint was found on a note warning of a "mass bomb." Swastikas and the inscription "kill all Jews" were also found in restrooms on campus.

In San Francisco, faculty members are accused of abusing their authority to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The complaints also include attempts to hack them and events involving parties with ties to terrorist organizations. The Department of Education also noted the activity on campus of a student group affiliated with the PLO. The university stated that antisemitism and discrimination are unacceptable to it, and that the opening of the investigation is not a determination that the law was violated. The investigations are part of a broad move by the Donald Trump administration to increase federal enforcement against antisemitism in higher education institutions.