Texas synagogue terrorist said he was 'opening door' for attacks on US

"We're coming to f***ing America...We'll give them f***ing war," Malik Faisal Akram told his brother in a recorded call.

An armored law enforcement vehicle is seen in the area where a man has reportedly taken people hostage at a synagogue during services that were being streamed live, in Colleyville, Texas, US January 15, 2022.  (photo credit: REUTERS/Shelby Tauber)
An armored law enforcement vehicle is seen in the area where a man has reportedly taken people hostage at a synagogue during services that were being streamed live, in Colleyville, Texas, US January 15, 2022.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Shelby Tauber)

"I'm opening the doors for every youngster to enter America and f**k with them," said Malik Faisal Akram, the terrorist who held four people hostage in a Colleyville synagogue earlier this week, in a recording of a call with his brother, Gulbar, published by the Jewish Chronicle on Wednesday.

Akram can be heard telling his brother he demanded that Pakistani Al-Qaeda-affiliated Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for multiple felonies, be released and brought to him.

"I've told them I'll release these four guys, I'll come on the yard, I'll have a toe to toe with you. Shoot me dead, shoot her (Siddiqui) dead because I'm dead and she's dead, she's [got] 84 [more] years, right?" he said.

"They come into our f***ing countries, rape our women and f**k our kids and we can't come in their countries and f**k with them?" shouted Akram, referring to the Taliban and America's war in Afghanistan. "I'm setting the precedent today... you're not gonna get away with it any more, even if they don't release Dr. Aafia – who gives a f**k?"

 Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, where four hostages were held. (credit: JTA)
Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, where four hostages were held. (credit: JTA)

"I'm in a synagogue, I've got four beautiful guys, Jewish guys with me. I'm bombed up, I've got f***ing every ammunition," the terrorist said. "I've only been here two weeks and I've got them all at gunpoint. They let James Foley die and they didn't release her, but guess what? Maybe they'll have compassion for f***ing Jews."

Throughout the call, Akram repeated that he was trying to "die a martyr" and decried US military actions abroad.

"I've come to die. I promised my brother when I watched him on that death bed that I will go down as a martyr, I'll let no motherf***ers suppress me," said Akram in the recording published by the Jewish Chronicle. "I'm opening the doors for every f***ing youngster in England to know live your f***ing life bro, you f***ing coward. We're coming to f***ing America...We'll give them f***ing war.

For OVER 10 hours on Saturday, Akram held Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the spiritual leader of the synagogue, and three others hostage in Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. 

Cytron-Walker told CBS that Akram showed up at the synagogue posing as someone looking for shelter, before he pulled a gun on the spiritual leader and began holding them hostage. He eventually released one of them; the other three were able to escape after Cytron-Walker threw a chair at him.


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Akram, 44, was from Blackburn, located north of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The Blackburn Muslim Community published a statement on Facebook, saying that he was the son of Mohammed Malik Akram and had four brothers, including one who passed away in October.

The community also shared a statement by Gulbar. "We are absolutely devastated as a family," he wrote. "We can’t say much now as there is an ongoing FBI investigation. We would like to say that we as a family do not condone any of his actions and would like to sincerely apologize wholeheartedly to all the victims involved in the unfortunate incident."

Gulbar stated that Akram was suffering from mental health issues and claimed, in contrast to official accounts, that the hostages had been released and not rescued by police. There was nothing the family could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender, he said.

"We would also like to add that any attack on any human being, [whether] a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc. is wrong and should always be condemned," the brother said. "It is absolutely inexcusable for a Muslim to attack a Jew or for any Jew to attack a Muslim, Christian, Hindu vice versa etc. etc."

Akram was banned from appearing in courts in Northgate, England, in 2001 for threatening and abusing staff and allegedly telling a court usher that he wished the usher had died on one of the planes in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A 2001 article by the Lancashire Telegraph reported the ban only 11 days after the World Trade Center was hit.

While Akram denied the allegations against him, a letter sent to him by then-deputy justice clerk Peter Wells called him a menace and detailed his abuse of court staff, especially quoting him telling the court usher: "You should have been on the f***ing plane."