“I’m gonna poison her slowly” – Eight University of Michigan students charged with violent plot to terrorize Jews

The Justice Department on Wednesday indicted eight young anti-Israel activists, most of whom studied or worked at the University of Michigan, for orchestrating a criminal plot “to terrorize government officials, Jewish businesses and institutions” in Detroit. The defendants, many of them known campus agitators, targeted the homes of  university officials and intended to use “poison, bombs, and psychological torture” on their targets.

Washington Free BeaconThe conspirators made clear they felt compelled to “escalate, mobilize, and organize to demand divestment by any means necessary,” according to federal prosecutors.

“In the dead of night, masked and hooded defendants allegedly threw noxious chemicals through the windows of families’ homes and taped demand letters to their front doors,” said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “At every step they attempted to cover their tracks and delete evidence of their crimes.”

The eight defendants—identified in the federal indictment as 23-year-old Zainab Aliasgar Hakim, 21-year-old Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, 26-year-old Paige Elizabeth Feyock, 28-year-old Ahmet Kerem Korkaya, 22-year-old Jonathan Hongru Zou, 23-year-old Alexander Matthew Sepulveda, 24-year-old Mariam Muhammed Odeh, and 24-year-old Colin Hunter Weger—allegedly collected “personal addresses, photographs, political and social connections, business ownership, and other personal details of the targets.”

The arrests mark an escalation in the Justice Department’s pursuit and prosecution of violent left-wing/Muslim extremists.

In the years since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, some universities and local police departments looked the other way at violent anti-Israel protests. The prestigious University of Michigan in particular came under heavy criticism for its allegedly permissive response to violent protesters and encampments and for failing to crack down on antisemitism.

Now the federal government is stepping in. The criminal plot in Ann Arbor began materializing shortly after Hamas’s October 7 terror attack on Israel, when the defendants publicly posted a series of demands to UM’s leaders that included financial divestment from Israel.

The conspirators made clear they felt compelled to “escalate, mobilize, and organize to demand divestment by any means necessary,” according to federal prosecutors. They later posted evidence of their crimes, including photos of a defaced Jewish Federation building and other local businesses on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack. The Jewish Federation of Detroit, which was targeted by the defendants, said that many of the threats “directly” referenced “the Hamas-led terror attack” and appear to be inspired by the terror group.

On May 21, 2024, Feyock, a UM medical researcher who graduated from elite Wellesley College and Korkaya, a medical student in Wisconsin, formulated plans to “‘kill,’ ‘torment,’ and ‘terrorize’ their Jewish targets and families,” according to evidence presented by the Justice Department.

“Referring to one victim, Korkaya stated his ‘entire family’ was on his ‘hit list’ [and] Feyock added that they should ‘get’ the ‘kids’ of two victims.” Korkaya subsequently said of another listed target, “I’m gonna be the dirtiest f—g doctor ever / I’m gonna be [the victim’s] doctor / poison her a— slowly.”

Feyock agreed with this plan and added: “We need people following [the victim] / get into that house then burn it down.”Korkaya had the chemistry expertise to make good on his threat and allegedly aided in the creation of “noxious chemicals” that were used in the attacks on University of Michigan officials’ homes.

Feyock and Zainab Aliasgar Hakim are facing additional charges of witness intimidation that could carry up to 20 years in prison. In July and August 2024, “Hakim and Feyock devised a plan to confront the victim, a University of Michigan student whom they believed may have been cooperating with federal authorities.”

Hakim allegedly “warned that the victim was ‘going to send us to federal prison,’” prompting Feyock to respond, “We have to do something about [the victim] / [the victim] is actually a liability / the fact that [the victim] is naming you to [unindicted conspirator] is a major issue.”

Following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, ZOA-Michigan said it has received numerous complaints from U of M students who fear for their safety. The situation has been exacerbated, it added, by pro-Hamas demonstrations on campus and in campus buildings calling for the end of Israel and the genocide of Jews, often punctuated by Nazi symbols and slogans.

In the weeks leading up to finals and graduation, antisemitic hostilities have reached a dangerous pitch. Senior Salma Hamamy, a 22-year-old Palestinian American and the president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), stated on her Instagram page on March 22: “Until my last breath, I will utter death to every single individual who supports the Zionist state. Death and more. Death and worse.”

Hakim, like Feyock and other conspirators, was a well-known anti-Israel agitator on campus. She completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in 2024, obtaining a “Bachelor of Arts in History of Art, Women’s and Gender Studies, and a minor in Islamic Studies,” according to an April profile by the Polis Project, a magazine that “documents communities in resistance.”

Hakim was hired for a full-time job at the university in October 2024 but was fired earlier this year for her anti-Israel activities, with the university saying she violated its “Violence in the University Community” guidelines.