A Knoxville man was convicted for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“On Oct. 19, following an eight-day trial, a jury convicted Benjamin Carpenter, 31, of Knoxville, Tennessee, aka Abu Hamza, of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, a foreign terrorist organization,” the release says.
Carpenter was the leader of Ahlut-Tawhid Publications, which federal authorities said is a global publication for ISIS supporters and celebrates the deaths of American soldiers, glorifies suicide bombers, and calls for jihad against the United States and its allies.
To that end, Carpenter (pictured above), using the alias “Abu Hamza,” published a weekly newsletter called “From Dabiq to Rome.”
“In 2020 and 2021, Carpenter contacted an individual he believed to be affiliated with ISIS’s central media bureau and provided translation services for a project intended to relaunch Al-Hayat Media Center, ISIS’s official foreign-language media arm,” according to the release.
Carpenter faces up to 20 years in prison upon his sentencing, which will occur on an unspecified date.
The case was investigated by the Knoxville Joint Terrorism Task Force, which the DOJ said is composed of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The conviction comes amid a backdrop of violence by radical Islamists in the Middle East.
Hamas launched an attack two weeks ago targeting innocent Israeli citizens, prompting Israel to declare war. In Gaza, 4,200 people have reportedly died during the conflict, while 1,400 Israelis have died.
Meanwhile, antisemitism is reportedly on the rise, particularly in the United Kingdom.
“The Met, the UK’s biggest police force, said there had been 218 antisemitic offenses in London between October 1 and 18, compared to 15 in the same period last year, a rise of 1,353 percent,” according to The Times of Israel.
“Regrettably, despite the increased presence of officers we have seen a significant increase in hate crime across London,” the Met reportedly said.
According to the British police force, 21 arrests have been made, including one for defacing posters of missing Israelis.
The British government says it has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or glorification of terrorism.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
This young man is lucky. If he’d been supporting Trump his jail sentence would have been longer.