In a chilling narrative of youth radicalization, two sisters from Springfield and an 18-year-old Egyptian student in Falls Church have been barred from George Mason University (GMU) as their trajectories intertwined with allegations of extremist ideologies, pro-terrorism actions, and anti-Jew hate. The overlapping timelines of the sisters and the college freshman over the past year reveal a disturbing pattern of radicalization, activism, and alleged vandalism and terrorism plots that have again drawn federal, state, and local counterterrorism law enforcement attention to Fairfax County. At 6:10 a.m. on the pre-dawn morning of Nov. 7, armed with a search warrant, about 14 members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Virginia State Police, Fairfax County Police Department and the GMU Police Department searched the family home of two George Mason University (GMU) students, Jena and Noor Chanaa, off I-95 South in Springfield. The sisters, leaders of the local Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at GMU, had been tied to recent acts of vandalism at the GMU campus. Inside the home, officers found firearms, ammunition, and materials described as pro-terrorist, including signs that read “death to Jews.” In a court filing also identifying the sisters’ brother, Mohammad Chanaa, a GMU graduate, a Fairfax County Police Department officer noted they found“several flags, paperwork,” insignia, “and other materials displaying anti-American rhetoric and expressions indicating ‘Death to America.’” In addition, he noted, “Subject is specifically in possession of ‘Hamas’ and ‘Hezbollah’ flags, which have been deemed terroristic and a threat to the American people by the U.S. State Department.” Further, he added, “Subject is in possession of several firearms and ammunition.” Meanwhile, across Fairfax County, FBI agents were monitoring the pro-terrorism text messages of an 18-year-old GMU student, Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, espousing support of terrorist groups, including ISIS and Hamas. On Nov. 15, Hassan sent an FBI confidential informant a pro-ISIS video “that called for the killing of Jews,” according to a court affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by FBI Special Agent Tyler Ellefson. The following week, on Nov. 23, Hassan allegedly shared directions on finding bomb-making manuals on archive.org, a repository of internet content, and provided a video on making an explosive, acetone peroxide. The FBI agent noted, “an ISIS flag logo appears in the upper corner.” That day, as they considered targets in New York City, Hassan allegedly “stated that the best target for such an attack would be a building that represented the ‘Yahud,’” the Arabic word for “Jew.” The next day, Hassan sent the informant “the land address for the Consulate General of Israel,” according to the FBI. The raid of the sisters’ home and the arrest of Hassan, who is set to be deported, mark the latest chapter in Northern Virginia’s long and fraught history with extremism—one that includes the 9/11 hijackers, homegrown radicals like Zachary Chesser, a graduate of Kilmer Middle School in Vienna, and alleged financial networks supporting terrorism. Together, these cases highlight the region’s unique role as both a hub for activism and a site of national security concern. Hassan’s public defender, Cadence Mertz, has declined comment. The Chanaa family attorney, Abdel-Rahman Hamed, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Chanaa sisters’ case has reignited debates over the balance between activism and extremism. Their defenders argue that GMU’s actions represent an overreach that suppresses dissent, while critics contend their rhetoric crossed into incitement to violence. Hassan’s case underscores the dangers of radicalization and the thin line between ideological extremism and violence. His explicit instructions for bomb-making and targeting government buildings illustrate how quickly online rhetoric can translate into real-world threats. As Northern Virginia continues to grapple with the legacy of extremism, the cases of the Chanaa sisters and the GMU freshman offer a stark window into the region’s complex intersection of activism, ideology, and security. For law enforcement, universities, and advocacy groups alike, the challenge remains navigating this fraught terrain while preserving civil liberties and ensuring public safety. A Region’s Troubling Legacy The Chanaa sisters and Hassan are the latest in a series of individuals from Northern Virginia tied to extremism over the past two decades. The area has been home to radical figures, financial networks, and domestic terror plots, often rooted in overlapping ideologies of religious extremism and political activism. In 2002, the International Institute of Islamic Thought, based in Herndon, faced federal scrutiny of its finances and alleged ties to terrorism with raids on the organization’s headquarters. No charges were filed, and the organization’s leaders denied any wrongdoing. In 2004, federal officials sentenced men in a “network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia,” some of them training with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Foreign Terrorist Organization designated by the U.S. State Department. Like the modern-day cases, one of the men was a student at Northern Virginia Community College, according to court documents. Most prominently, Northern Virginia served as a base of operations for two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi, who attended sermons at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church. They lived off Route 7 in the Skyline Towers Apartments. The mosque’s imam at the time, Anwar al-Awlaki, later became a leader in Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, inspiring individuals like Chesser, who attempted to join Al-Shabaab in 2010 and was convicted for threatening to kill the creators of the animated show, “South Park,” for allegedly dishonoring Islam. More recently, political figures like Essam Omeish, a leader at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, have been accused of promoting anti-Israel rhetoric that critics argue veers into extremism. In a 2000 speech, Omeish called for “jihad against Israel.” His daughter, Abrar Omeish, a former Fairfax County School Board member, sparked controversy in 2021 by describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” and opposing language labeling the 9/11 hijackers as “terrorists.” Earlier this year, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares launched an investigation into the American Muslims for Palestine over alleged improprieties in fundraising. In Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine face a lawsuit for alleged support of terrorism. The Chanaa Sisters: Activists or Extremists? Jena and Noor Chanaa, prominent leaders in GMU’s pro-Palestinian advocacy community, had built a reputation as vocal and passionate activists. Jena Chanaa is a Class of 2020 graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke and was a graduate student at GMU. Noor Chanaa is a Class of 2021 Lake Braddock graduate and an undergraduate student at GMU. On Aug. 28, their advocacy took a controversial turn when anti-Israel activists defaced Wilkins Plaza at GMU with graffiti calling for a “student intifada.” The vandalism caused thousands of dollars in damage, GMU officials said, and GMU police soon after tied the sisters to the incident. Two days later, a message was posted on the @GMUIntifada Instagram account, saying, “Student Intifada will confront every dousing of our eternal flame of resistance with precision. We will never be extinguished. Resistance until victory, GMU Intifada #escalate4gaza #studentintifada.” Later, on Sept. 25, at 6:58 a.m., GMU police reported vandalism at the Johnson Center on campus, according to an incident report. Anti-Israel student protestors hung a banner at a career fair that day, opposing military defense contractors, many of them based in Fairfax County and the area, including Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin, Reston-based General Dynamics in Reston, and Arlington-based Leonardo DRS. The @GMUIntifada Instagram page published a post of the banner, writing, “autonomous actors at George Mason university [sic] do NOT welcome the genocide profiteering defense companies attending the GMU career fair.” Soon after the raid, GMU suspended the SJP chapter and barred the sisters from campus for four years. The university cited the vandalism and the materials seized from their home, including the firearms, as justification for the unprecedented sanctions. In simultaneous press releases released the same day on Dec. 4, the sisters received quick support from the GMU chapter of the national “Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine” network and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose founder Nihad Awad is based in Fairfax County. After the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Jews, Awad told a conference of American Muslims for Palestine, based in Fairfax County, “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.” A White House spokesman responded, saying, “We condemn these shocking, antisemitic statements in the strongest terms.” In its statement about the Chanaa sisters, CAIR described the raid of their house as “draconian,” arguing, “Such alleged measures fit a pattern nationwide of attempts to silence or intimidate those who seek to end the Israeli genocide in Gaza.” In its statement on a website, Jadaliyyah, that features “teach-in” courses on “Israel’s Genocide” and “Leaving Zionism,” the GMU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine chapter echoed these concerns, framing the actions against the sisters as a violation of their civil liberties. “Do universities such as GMU routinely send phalanxes of police officers in military fatigues and armored vehicles and carrying assault rifles, to break down the front door and raid the homes of students during the pre-dawn hours over an allegation of spray painting?” The letter was co-signed by Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Anti-Imperialist Action University of Maryland at Baltimore County, among an extensive network of groups that have protested against Israel in increasing numbers after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas. The letter was also signed by the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, which has been the center of controversy for decades for its ties to extremists. Abdullah Hassan: A Terror Plot Unfolds While the Chanaa sisters’ case sparked debate over activism and free speech, Hassan’s story veered into outright extremism. Court documents reveal that Hassan had been flagged by the FBI as early as 2022 for his online expressions of support for ISIS. By 2024, his rhetoric had escalated into action. In his communications with FBI informants, Hassan detailed the most effective devices against the “Yahudi,” or Jews, at the Israeli Consulate in New York. In one exchange, Hassan encouraged the informant to build a bomb, providing precise instructions, “Surround the explosive with shrapnel to maximize damage... 7-9mm ball bearings will do the trick.” He also discussed possible methods for the attack, stating, “Two options: lay havoc on them with an assault rifle or detonate a TATP vest in the midst of them... The first option being that similar to Omar Mateen... The second as a regular istishhadi operation.” TATP is an acronym for Triacetone Triperoxide, an explosive compound. Istishhadi is an Arabic term that refers to the heroic death of a martyr. Mateen, 29, murdered nine people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in 2016, targeting the venue because it was popular within the local gay community. He was killed in a police shootout. FBI Special Agent Ellefson wrote that Hassan said he “believed it would be easier to commit an attack using small arms and be ‘martyred’ by the police (i.e., suicide by cop) than to complete a suicide bombing successfully.” Hassan’s arrest came as he continued to advise the informant on logistics, including how to evade law enforcement and escape to countries without U.S. extradition laws. In a message back in August, Hassan wrote: “Yep I am an extremist.”