Pro-Palestinian group behind LA Synagogue protest linked to alleged New Year’s Eve Bomb Plot
The group that the courts say was behind a busted New Year’s Eve bombing scheme in Southern California was also on social media rallying a protest at a Los Angeles synagogue just days before the FBI stepped in.
Prosecutors have identified the conspirators as the far‑left, pro‑Palestinian organization called the Turtle Island Liberation Front. On December 2, the group posted on several platforms about staging a demonstration at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown, telling followers to put on masks, “wear BLOC,” and confront what it described as “genocidal monsters.”
One of the messages warned that Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems was planning to install its AI in the Koreatown neighborhood, and it urged activists to join a protest the next day. The post was signed by the Turtle Island Liberation Front, the same name that federal officials later linked to the alleged bombing conspiracy.
The next day, pro‑Palestinian demonstrators disrupted a private event at the temple. Video footage shows masked protestors shouting outside the historic building, and at least one clip seems to depict protesters creeping inside and filming while yelling.
Temple officials called the episode an act of targeted hate, and Senior Rabbi Joel Nickerson said the attackers “targeted the Jewish community.” Mayor Karen Bass condemned the conduct, saying she’d heard reports of property damage and antisemitic slurs, and announced that police would increase patrols around houses of worship.
Less than ten days later, federal agents detained four suspected members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front in the Mojave Desert—Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai—charging them with conspiracy and with possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Carroll, a known member of the organization, had circulated an eight‑page handwritten plan called “Operation Midnight Sun” that called for detonating backpack‑style improvised bombs at five or more sites linked to two U.S. companies across Los Angeles at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The document included instructions for “complex pipe bombs,” steps to cover tracks, and a recognition that the plot would be a terrorist act. Prosecutors allege that Carroll and Page recruited the other conspirators, bought bomb‑making supplies, and traveled to a remote area of the Mojave Desert on December 12 to assemble and test explosives. FBI agents intervened before any device could be completed.
The Department of Justice says that Page and Gaffield have already gone before a judge and will be held without bond. If found guilty, the defendants could face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy and an additional ten years for unregistered destructive weapons possession. Sentencing will ultimately be decided by the federal judge handling the case.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
