NEW YORK – Officials announced that a man holding dual U.S.-German citizenship has been detained on charges related to his attempt to firebomb the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv. He was arrested after traveling to Israel.
According to federal prosecutors in New York, the accused, Joseph Neumeyer, approached the embassy on May 19 carrying a backpack with Molotov cocktails. He got into a scuffle with a guard but eventually fled, abandoning his backpack as the guard attempted to detain him.
Law enforcement was then able to locate Neumeyer at a hotel situated a few blocks from the embassy, where they arrested him, per a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York.
The attack took place against the backdrop of Israel’s war in Gaza, now in its 19th month.
Neumeyer, 28, who is originally from Colorado and has dual U.S. and German citizenship, had traveled from the U.S. to Canada in early February and then arrived in Israel in late April, according to court records. He had made a series of threatening social media posts before attempting the attack, prosecutors said.
Israeli officials deported Neumeyer to New York on Saturday and he had an initial court appearance before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Sunday, the same day his criminal complaint was unsealed.
Neumeyer’s court-appointed attorney Jeff Dahlberg declined to comment.
During his first term, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite Palestinian objections and moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city.
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