Jordanian Saboteur Pleads Guilty to Damaging Energy Facilities in the U.S.
Hashem Hnaihen pleaded guilty to federal charges of threatening to use explosives and a count of destroying an energy facility. Authorities claim his motivation was to harm businesses he believed were supporting Israel. Photo credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Federal authorities had charged Hnaihen for vandalizing businesses around Orlando and leaving threatening letters.
His threats included one left at a Starbucks, in which he threatened to “explode everything here in America,” according to an indictment obtained by The Daily Muck.
Motivated by Perceived Support of Israel
In his so-called “warning letters,” Hnaihen claimed that his targets were “the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel,” say prosecutors. Hnaihen left these messages at businesses after smashing their front doors at night when they were closed. He wore a mask to obscure his identity from security cameras.
In one of his letters, Hnaihen wrote, “You trade in our democracy and use our money to ignite the wars and kill innocent people all over the world in order to steal their natural wealth such as oil, gold and many others, as happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya … and it is currently happening in Gaza and Sudan,” according to The Jerusalem Post, one of the biggest news outlets in Israel.
Vandalized Solar Facility
Hnaihen didn’t stop at smashing glass doors. Things escalated in June 2024 when Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility located in Wedgefield, Fla., where he spent a few hours destroying solar panels, cutting wires and doing anything he could to destroy as much electronic equipment as possible. Prosecutors say he caused more than $500,000 in damages.
Once finished, he left two copies of his “warning letter.” Prosecutors characterized his attack as “premeditated and sophisticated”.
Arrested at Another Energy Facility
Police caught up with Hnaihen on July 11, 2024, a few days after another of his letters was found in an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.
The Jordanian native faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each threat, with an additional 20 years for destroying the solar facility.
This is the second dramatic situation regarding energy facilities in the U. S. in the last few months. Jordan Duncan, a 29-year-old man from Bailey, North Carolina, was the last of the group of Neo-nazis who were sentenced after taking participation in a plot to destroy an energy facility, which was previously covered by The Daily Muck.
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