(i24) Members of the Boogaloo movement want civil war to overthrow the government
Two Americans belonging to a far-right movement were arrested on Friday after seeking to “join forces” with the Palestinian terror movement Hamas, according to a statement released by the US Justice Department.
Michael Solomon, 30, and Benjamin Teeter, 22, members of the so-called “Boogaloo Bois,” were charged with “attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group,” according to a ministry statement.
The boogaloo movement is known to law enforcement as a loosely organized American far-right anti-government extremist “militia,” and seek to incite a second American Civil War which they call the “boogaloo.”
The two men were arrested after contacting a police informant, believing that he was a representative of Hamas in the United States.
According to the Justice Department, they offered to serve as “mercenaries” for the Palestinian movement as a way to raise money to purchase weapons and their own training compound for the boogaloo group.
They were arrested after delivering silencers to an undercover FBI agent, who identified himself as a Hamas cadre.
“This case can only be understood as a disturbing example of the old adage: ‘the enemy of your enemy is your friend,'” said John Demers, chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Demers added the case represented a “witch’s brew of ideological motivations” that may inspire U.S. enemies.
The FBI investigation began in May after the agency received numerous tips that Solomon and Teeter were in possession of large cache of weapons and ammunition, and expressed interest in “committing acts of violence against police officers and other targets in furtherance of the … stated goal of overthrowing the government and replacing its police forces.”
