AOC campaign denies link to woman charged with 'terroristic threat' against school over Jewish students

Fox News

2 days ago

The campaign of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., condemned "appalling" antisemitic remarks of a woman arrested for allegedly making threats against a Brooklyn public high school attended by Jewish students, and denied a report that the suspect once worked for them.
Iman Abdul, 27, of Brooklyn, was arrested Friday on charges of making a terroristic threat, endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated harassment and making a threat of mass harm, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The NYPD said it was reported to police on Thursday afternoon that Abdul "made a terroristic threat through social media" towards the Leon Goldstein High School for the Sciences, located in Manhattan Beach, within the confines of the 61st Precinct.
The New York Post was first to report on the case. The outlet obtained screenshots of posts purportedly shared from Abdul's since-deactivated Instagram account.
"If anyone needs a public school in NYC to attack for whatever reason… Lexus driving Israhell [sic] loving Zionisits [sic] all attend here," Abdul allegedly wrote, sharing a screenshot from Google Maps of the high school's location.
The group Stop Antisemitism and Jewish advocate Uri Cohen both posted Abdul's photo and a screenshot of the post to X, demanding that she be prosecuted over the threats.
Online court records show Abdul was arraigned on one count of making a terroristic threat and one count of making a threat of mass harm, pleading not guilty.
"A map. A pin. A call to harm Jews, fellow New Yorkers, children, teachers. This isn't just dangerous. It's evil. Jew-hatred doesn't stop with a threat. It escalates. We need immediate and unequivocal action," Tova Plaut, a Department of Education pre-K staffer and Jewish activist, reportedly told The Post. "I am outraged and horrified that a NYC school was publicly marked for attack simply because of its Jewish population."
In a direct message to Stop Antisemitism, Abdul reportedly defended the post before her account was deactivated.
"I never called for an attack on the school in the sense of mass organization or not even individual people attacking individuals, that's literally stupid," she wrote, according to the Post. "I called for an attack on the school, the Zionist institution funded by our public dollars … we have every right to verbally attack the school."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office seeking more information on Sunday but did not immediately hear back.
The Post was also first to identify Abdul's connection to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign. According to the outlet, Abdul worked on the "Squad" member's Democratic primary campaign as a youth organizer in the summer of 2018. State Sen. Julia Salazar reportedly told the Post that Abdul also worked on Salazar's campaign during that timeframe as a paid canvasser.
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign office denied that Abdul was ever a campaign staffer.
"This person was never staff on the campaign and any representation of such is false," the campaign said in a statement. "Their comments are appalling and we condemn threats of violence without hesitation."
Reached by Fox News Digital, Abdul's attorney, Geoffrey St. Andrew Stewart, declined to comment on the case.