FBI: Terror Plot Against Israel Foiled

With suicide bombings now becoming almost a daily occurrence in Israel, U.S. officials may have stumbled across a plot by two Americans to offer themselves up as human sacrifices in the current violence there, CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports.

Two Virginia men, one of Palestinian descent, the other of Eritrean, were stopped by Israeli El Al Airlines security in New York last December en route to Tel Aviv.

Although allowed to continue the flight, one of the men was found to be carrying a letter from his brother written in Arabic. Both men were refused entry to Israel and sent back to the United States.

An FBI affidavit unsealed Tuesday described the letter as consistent with what "appears to be a farewell letter for a suicide mission in the name of Jihad."

One of the men, Mohammed Idris of Annandale, Va., was charged with "making false declarations before a grand jury." The affadavit concluded that "his travel to Israel was not merely as a tourist but as one intending to commit or support acts of terrorism."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria, Frank R. Schults, said Idris has been released on bond.

The FBI said that the letter was carried by the second man, Mohammed El-Yacoubi of Fairfax, Va., and apparently written by his younger brother, Abdalmuhssin El-Yacoubi, a student at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

According to the affidavit, the author of the letter told authorities he merely meant to wish his brother a safe journey during his visit to such a troubled land.

Idris and Mohammed El-Yacoubi were carrying $2,000 in cash, a cellular telephone, a compass, calculator and video camera, the FBI said.

The affidavit quoted a passage from the letter: "When I heard what you are going to carry out, my heart was filled with the feeling of grief and joy because you are the closest human being to my heart."

The letter also said: "It is incumbent upon me to encourage you and help you, because Islam urges Jihad for the sake of Allah," according to the FBI.

"I believe that Abdalmuhssin drafted this extraordinary letter to his brother under these circumstances because, based on his conversations with Mohammed, he believed that his brother was about to engage in terrorist activity that he might not survive," wrote FBI Special Agent John V. Wyman, in the affidavit, submitted in support of a criminal complaint.

Idris, Mohammed El-Yacoubi and others are suspected of providing or trying to provide support to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, which the U.S. considers terrorist organizations.

"The court documents indicate that a grand jury in northern Alexandria was investigating whether Idris made numerous false statements under oath," Wyman said in his affidavit.

Wyman said he consulted with Arabic and Islamic experts who analyzed the letter at the FBI's request.

"The references to Jihad in an overwhelmingly violent context cannot be confused with a letter written to someone traveling to Israel solely for the purpose of sightseeing or praying," Wyman said. He added that the "overall tone of the letter clearly implies the use of violence and/or loss of life."

The FBI said Idris told the grand jury that he and El-Yacoubi had considered going to the Vatican, Israel and Saudi Arabia when planning their trip. But Idris' travel agent told the FBI that he was adamant about visiting only Israel, the papers said.

The FBI also accused Idris of lying about his efforts to obtain a new passport for his trip to Israel. The FBI said he lied because his existing passport included entry stamps to Saudi Arabia.

"I ... believe that Idris and El-Yacoubi wanted new passports that lacked references to prior travel to Saudi Arabia in order to enhance the likelihood that they would be allowed into Israel and to avoid suspicion by Israelis that they were there to commit or support acts of terrorism," Wyman said.