INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD officers arrested a woman, who police labeled a “terrorist,” after she drove her car into a building in what she described as a planned attack on the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge.
Ruba Almaghtheh, 34, was arrested on a preliminary charge of intimidation which is a level 5 felony if the threat is to commit terrorism.
According to a police report obtained by FOX59/CBS4, police were called to the building around 12:30 Saturday morning to investigate a hate crime. Officers said Almaghtheh backed her car into the building while several adults and children were inside.
Almaghtheh told officers she was watching news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war on television and decided to plan an attack on the building because she was offended by the “Hebrew Israelite” symbol on the front of the building.
The Anti-Defamation League defines the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge as an “extreme and antisemitic” sect of the Black Hebrew Israelites. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Black Hebrew Israelites as a hate group.
According to the report, Almaghtheh was interviewed by detectives and admitted to committing the hate crime during her courtesy phone call with a family member.
Almaghtheh is expected to make her first court appearance on Wednesday.
