WIESENTHAL CENTER: 22 YEARS APPROPRIATE SENTENCE FOR DOMESTIC TERRORIST CELL MEMBER THAT TARGETED LOS ANGELES SYNAGOGUE, ISRAELI CONSULATE AND EL AL

The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed satisfaction at the 22 year sentence meted out to Levar Haney Washington for his part in a plot to wreak murder and mayhem at a Los Angeles area synagogue, the Israeli Consulate, El Al. and other targets in Southern California.

"We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Torrance Police and all agencies involved in anti-terrorist efforts," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, adding, “This case was especially disturbing as it involved American citizens who embraced the horrific world view of Osama Bin Laden while they were incarcerated in State Prison in California. We reiterate our call for prison officials to ensure that terrorist groups are not able to recruit prisoners to their culture of death."

A former inmate in a California state prison who became part of a domestic terrorist cell that planned to attack United States military operations, "infidels," and Israeli and Jewish facilities in the Los Angeles area, Levar Haney Washington 30, was sentenced Monday morning to 22 years in federal prison. He was recruited into the terrorist cell while in state prison and subsequently recruited others into the plot. Washington pleaded guilty on Dec. 14 to being part of a domestic terrorist cell that sought to finance its operation through a string of gas station robberies.

For more information, contact the Center’s Public Relations department, 310-553-9036.