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Terrorist Sent to Jail

Where he first got the idea to bomb LAX, Israeli consulate

by
Allison Hoffman
August 18, 2009
(David McNew/Getty Images)
(David McNew/Getty Images)

In 2005, prosecutors charged four members of a California-based group calling itself Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh with conspiring to detonate bombs at military bases, the Israeli Consulate in Beverly Hills, synagogues, and aboard El Al Airlines jets at LAX. To finance the plot, the group robbed 11 gas stations—symbolic targets, apparently, because of the group’s belief in the connection between America’s support for Israel and its thirst for oil.

Yesterday, the last—and youngest—of the four men, 25-year-old Hammad Samana, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for his role as a getaway driver. But since the men met and hatched their plans while serving time at California’s Folsom prison—the facility made famous by inmate riots and Johnny Cash—we wonder: Is the lockup really the best place to put them now?

Allison Hoffman is a senior editor at Tablet Magazine. Her Twitter feed is @allisont_dc.