Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel suggested that “White supremacy,” a British national seeking to release a terrorist dubbed “Lady Al-Qaeda,” could have been behind Saturday’s attack on Texas synagogue.
Nessel said to Yasmin Vossoughian, MSNBC’s White supremacist extremist organization founder, that there would be a rise of hate crimes and a formation of such organizations in the country. This was first reported by Washington Free Beacon. According to the Free Beacon, it was already reported that the suspect demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who was convicted in New York in 2010 for trying to kill U.S. military personnel while being held in Afghanistan two years prior.
After Voussoughian asked her about her concerns, Nessel stated that “my biggest concern” was that the incident would occur at a synagogue.
“We don’t know for sure, but we have witnessed an incredible rise of rhetoric that is antisemitic being traded all across the country. In the case of Michigan that is why we established the first hate crime and domestic terrorist unit anywhere in the state… because we were witnessing an exponential increase in hate crimes as well as an exponential rise of the formation and membership of extremist organizations, many of which are White supremacy groups,” she said.
Nessel stated that the “escalating threats” to minority and Jewish communities were one of her greatest concerns in Michigan as well as the nation.
She said, “So if that turns out to be the motivating factor here it would not be surprising,”
FBI later identified the suspect as Malik Faisal Akram. He held hostages for hours and was eventually killed by law enforcement. The incident resulted in no further injuries.
Siddiqui is currently serving an 86 year sentence for the crime he tried to commit.
