ORANGE COUNTY — A joint investigation by the FBI and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from Winter Park and Orlando Police departments, resulted in the arrest of a 43-year-old man on multiple federal charges.
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen is accused of targeting and attacking multiple businesses in the Orlando area over what he perceived as their support for Israel, according to a news release from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.
Prosecutors say, beginning around June 2024, Hnaihen smashed glass front doors “under the cover of night” and left behind “warning letters.”
The letters, according to the release, were addressed to the U.S. government and included both political demands and a threat to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
At the end of June, prosecutors say Hnaihen broke into a solar power facility in Wedgefield and, systematically, caused more than $700,000 in damage by smashing panels, targeting “critical electronic equipment,” and cutting wires.
Prosecutors say he was arrested after another letter was found at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.
“We allege that the defendant threatened to carry out hate-fueled mass violence in our country, motivated in part by a desire to target businesses for their perceived support of Israel,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “Such acts and threats of violence, whether they are targeting the places that Americans frequent every day or our country’s critical infrastructure, are extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated by the Justice Department.”
Hnaihen is charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility. A judge ordered him held without bond.
