TAMPA, FL — A federal grand jury has indicted a 23-year-old Tampa man accused of purchasing guns and bomb-making materials and planning terrorist attacks at various locations in Tampa Bay on behalf of ISIS.

United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced the return of the indictment against Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari in the U.S. Courthouse in Tampa Friday.

On May 27, Al-Azhari was charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and violations of the National Firearms Act.

The charges were handed down after the FBI, Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies concluded an extensive investigation in which they discovered chat room conversations and emails in which Al-Azhari discussed carrying out mass shootings and bombings. The U.S. Justice Department said Al-Azhari researched and scouted such targets as Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, the Tampa FBI field office, Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa and the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa where he told one informant he hoped to kill more people than Omar Mateen did at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando June 12, 2016.

Two days after the charges were announced, Al-Azhari's 22-year-old sister, Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, was shot to death after she attacked a Temple Terrace Police officer with a knife.

According to family members, she was distraught after learning about the charges against her brother.

https://patch.com/florida/miami/s/h5rnp/tampa-man-indicted-on-charges-of-planning-isis-terrorist-attack?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert

Minneapolis is spending $4,500 a day on private security for three city council members who support defunding the police after allegedly receiving threats, a local report published Friday showed.

Private security details cost Minneapolis taxpayers roughly $63,000 over the past three weeks, a spokesman for the city said, according to a Fox 9 report. Council members Andrea Jenkins, Phillipe Cunningham and Alondra Cano are outspoken supporters of efforts to defund the Minneapolis Police Department, the report stated.

Neither Cunningham, Jenkins nor Cano have responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Cunningham did respond to Fox 9’s request for comment, telling the outlet through a text message that, “I don’t feel comfortable publicly discussing the death threats against me or the level of security I currently have protecting me from those threats.” The security detail is temporary, he noted.

Jenkins said she has been asking for security since she became a council member.

“My concern is the large number of white nationalist(s) in our city and other threatening communications I’ve been receiving,” she wrote in an email to FOX 9.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/27/minneapolis-city-council-security-detail-defund-police/

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have released an open letter warning the Israeli government against applying sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria region. The letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his government was endorsed by 191 out of 233 House Democrats. None of the 197 Republicans in the House supported the move.

“[W]e express our deep concern with the stated intention to move ahead with any unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, and we urge your government to reconsider plans to do so,” the House Democrats wrote, referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposed plan to apply Israeli law to Judea and Samaria, an area which Israel acquired in the defensive war of 1967.

Based on an agreement reached with his coalition partner Benny Gantz, Israeli Prime Minister could implement the sovereignty plan as early as July 1. The step will be line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan unveiled in January 2020. The Trump plan allows for extending Israel’s law and sovereignty initially to over 30 percent of Judea and Samaria, which constitutes the historic Jewish heartland.

Israel’s sovereignty over this area “would likely jeopardize Israel’s significant progress on normalization with Arab states,” the Democrats warned. The letter was drafted by four Democratic lawmakers, namely Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida, Brad Schneider of Illinois, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and David Price of North Carolina. House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler and former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz were among its prominent supporters.

The Times of Israel news website reported the details of the open letter released by the House Democrats (View the PDF-version of the letter published by the Politico here):

Nearly 200 Democratic House members penned an open letter to the Israeli leadership Thursday, warning against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to start annexing parts of the West Bank with the Trump administration’s backing as early as July 1.

Addressed to Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, the letter implores Jerusalem to halt its plan, saying it would erode the possibility of a two-state solution and damage Israel’s ties with America.

“As committed partners in supporting and protecting the special US-Israel relationship,” the missive said, “we express our deep concern with the stated intention to move ahead with any unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, and we urge your government to reconsider plans to do so.”

The letter was orchestrated by Florida Congressman Ted Deutch and Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider, two of the most staunch pro-Israel members of Congress, who rarely criticize the Jewish state.

It was signed by a number of powerful and prominent House Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin. Not a single Republican joined them.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also opposes the proposed Israeli measure which complies with the Trump Peace Plan. “I do not support annexation,” Biden said on May 19, referring to Israeli sovereignty plan. He also vowed to undo the measures taken by President Trump. “I’m going to reverse Trump administration steps which I think significantly undercut the prospects of peace,” he added. This includes moving the U.S. embassy out of Jerusalem, media reports said.

By opposing Israel’s right to extend sovereignty, the House Democrats have firmly positioned themselves in line with the United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League.

The Democrats’ stance is in sharp contrast with the response of the Republicans in the House. Top Republicans supported Israel’s right to apply sovereignty to the region. On June 22, 116 out of 198 Republicans in the House signed a letter supporting Israel’s rights.

“We write to reaffirm the unshakeable alliance between the United States and Israel, to emphasize that Israel has the right to make sovereign decisions independent of outside pressure, and to express our support for you as you make such decisions in your capacity as Israel’s democratically-elected prime minister,” the House Republicans wrote in the letter. “As dedicated friends of the Jewish state, we reaffirm our steadfast commitment to the relationship between our two nations and Israel’s right to sovereignty and defensible borders.”

The White House also bolstered Israel’s position, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday stating that the decision on the sovereignty was “for Israelis to make.”

https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/06/house-democrats-warn-israel-against-sovereignty-plan-for-judea-and-samaria/