According to Police Chaplain Rabbi Mark Rosenberg, a Muslim guy known to frequent shuls in the Hollywood region of Florida was arrested in a Miami shul and taken to the hospital on Wednesday.
Since Muslim men rarely enter shuls, Rabbi Rosenberg told Hamodia that “Homeland security and other parts of law enforcement were familiar with the individual” but “were told by a communal rabbi that he was not a threat.”
There were no reports of him acting suspiciously throughout his months of shul visits.
Hisham Abdallah Khasawinah, a guy from Virginia, was the subject of unfounded rumors on social media that he had planned to carry out a terror attack on a synagogue.
Sources tell Hamodia that Khasawinah was informed that unless he starts a legitimate conversion process in a nearby Beis Din, he would no longer be allowed to attend services but would be allowed to come to classes given to prospective gerim after attending shiurim and tefilos for several months in a particular shul in which he was welcomed.
He concurred and claimed that he had made numerous unsuccessful email contact attempts with the Miami Beis Din.
The media was informed by Rabbi Yekusiel Stern, Administrator of the Miami Beis Din, that he was not acquainted with the Khasawinah.
Tuesday, according to Rabbi Rosenberg, Khasawinah made the ominous prediction that “seven people will die tomorrow” at a Hollywood synagogue.
This was reported to the police, who started looking for him along with the FBI and Homeland Security.
Khasawinah visited Netive Ezra, a Miami shul, on Wednesday.
According to Rabbi Rosenberg, when he was “belligerent, not psychologically well,” members of the congregation phoned the police.
He did not, however, make any threats or engage in aggressive behavior, and neither Rabbi Rosenberg nor the leaders of the shuls who spoke with Hamodia—including a veteran IDF soldier—believe that he had terroristic intents.
By Florida’s Baker Act, which allows police to hospitalize people who are mentally ill and judged a danger to themselves or others, agents from the law above enforcement organizations went to the Miami synagogue and arrested Khasawinah.
He wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing.
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