Two men have been convicted in the UK for plotting a massive Islamic State-inspired gun attack on Manchester’s Jewish community, aiming to slaughter hundreds in a rampage echoing the 2015 Paris Bataclan massacre.
The court hearing revealed Walid Saadaoui, a 38-year-old Tunisian migrant who ran an Italian restaurant, liquidated his assets—including selling his house for £169,000 and withdrawing £88,500 in cash—to finance the purchase of four AK-47s, two handguns, and 1,200 rounds of ammunition.
His accomplice, 52-year-old Amar Hussein, a former Iraqi soldier with a prior knife conviction, joined in scouting targets and planning to recruit two more shooters. They intended to disguise themselves in Jewish clothing for an extended shooting spree, even targeting first responders.
"Counter terrorism police in the North West say this is the biggest investigation that they have ever dealt with"
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 23, 2025
Sky's @lottyleeming reports from Preston with the latest from the trial, which found two men guilty of a terror plot targeting Jewish people in Manchester pic.twitter.com/3b4kUFlm0e
The plot targeted schools, synagogues, and gatherings in Manchester’s Jewish areas like Prestwich and Higher Broughton. Saadaoui joined the Manchester Jewish Community Facebook group to stalk potential victims and conducted hostile reconnaissance at Dover port for smuggling weapons.
MI5 snared them via Facebook, where Saadaoui posted ISIS propaganda under 10 fake accounts. He negotiated with an undercover officer posing as “Farouk,” using birdwatching code—”goldfinches” for guns, “bird seed” for ammo.
Two men found guilty of UK plot to kill hundreds of Jews as IS fears grow https://t.co/xP6KO9FhAa pic.twitter.com/8D4WB8gask
— Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) December 23, 2025
On May 8, 2024, Saadaoui was arrested at a Lancashire spa hotel while taking delivery of deactivated weapons. He ran 20 yards before armed officers tackled him. Hussein was nabbed soon after.
After the arrest, Hussein defiantly told police: “I’m proud, be terrorist here, I’m proud.”
Two Islamic State-inspired terrorists have been found guilty of plotting “the worst terrorist act in British history” on Jewish communities.
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 23, 2025
Walid Saadaoui, 38, from Wigan, and Amar Hussein, 52, from Bolton, wanted to replicate the 2015 Paris terror attacks in revenge for… pic.twitter.com/1QLhB51FVf
Saadaoui’s brother Bilel, 36, was also convicted for failing to disclose terrorism info, having exchanged antisemitic messages like a link to Jewish deaths with “#Beloved Palestine.”
In court, Saadaoui claimed he was sabotaging the plot out of fear, while Hussein shouted from the dock: “how many babies?”—apparently referencing Israel’s Gaza operations.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu said the pair “embraced the views” of Islamic State and were prepared to risk their own lives in order to become ‘martyrs'”.
Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts called it potentially “one of, if not the, deadliest terrorist attack in UK history,” noting Saadaoui’s insistence: “Based on Walid’s communications and interactions with the undercover operative, and some of the things he said, that made it very clear that he regarded a less sophisticated attack with less lethal weaponry as not being good enough… Because, in effect, it was his role and his duty to kill as many Jewish people as he could, and that wasn’t going to be achieved via the use of a knife or, for example, potentially a vehicle as a weapon.”
Frank Ferguson of the Crown Prosecution Service described it as “a deeply disturbing plot inspired by extremist ideology.”
Mark Gardner from the Community Security Trust added: “They don’t care who those Jews are. They don’t stop to ask these Jews what their opinion is of Israel, or whether they support Manchester United, or anything. They want to kill Jews, end of story. It’s the same as Nazis.”
Saadaoui hero-worshipped Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris attacks mastermind, and messaged about making it “the biggest operation after that of Osama (bin Laden)”—referring to 9/11.
The jury took just seven hours to convict them at Preston Crown Court. Sentencing is set for February 13.
Saadaoui chillingly told the undercover cop: “Young, old, women, elderly, the whole lot, killing them all.” He futher described any Christians caught in the crossfire as “A bonus.”
He also messaged: “Here in Manchester, we have the biggest Jewish community. God willing we will degrade and humiliate them (in the worst way possible), and hit them where it hurts.”
Hussein ranted: “Your government, your Prime Minister has sent weapons to kill our children in Israel. Terrorism is our religion. Koran say terrorism is normal. We are proud, we say terrorism is proud.”
Police hailed it as “the largest and most complex covert counter-terrorism investigation ever conducted in the North West.”
This foiled atrocity hits the same Manchester area where Jihad al Shamie stabbed a worshipper to death outside a synagogue on October 2, killing one—but this aimed for hundreds.
It underscores the relentless Islamist threat, with details of thwarted plots hitting headlines almost daily, and attacks such as the Bondi beach massacre being carried out.
Yet in Australia, leaders dodge the radical Islam elephant, pretending right-wingers are the real danger while crushing online free speech to prop up failing multiculturalism.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned: “You can see signs of some of those terrorism threats starting to grow again and starting to escalate.”
MI5 head Ken McCallum noted thwarting 19 late-stage plots since 2020, with terrorism breeding in “squalid corners of the internet.”
As Islamic State ramps up propaganda and exploits open borders, these convictions expose how unchecked migration imports jihadist dangers, endangering Western freedoms. Only by securing borders, expelling the extremists in our midst and prioritising citizen safety can this be overcome.
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Stinking jihadists. Leftist GB courts likely to give them a sharp “don’t do this again!” talking to I bet.