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U.S. citizens allegedly plotted terror in Israel

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- A man who traveled to Israel with a friend, who authorities suspected was on "a suicide mission in the name of Jihad," has been charged with lying to a federal grand jury investigating whether the two men were providing "material support" to alleged Islamic terrorist groups.

But both men -- longtime friends who attended Muslim schools together in suburban Washington -- were denied entry to Israel at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv last December and returned to the United States, according to a U.S. District Court document released Tuesday.

Neither man was charged with planning or engaging in any terrorist plot.

The only man charged with any crime was Mohamed Osman Idris, 24, of Annandale, Virginia, whom the FBI said lied to a grand jury during testimony in January and February.

Key evidence is 'farewell letter'

The complaint said the grand jury was investigating whether Idris and his traveling companion, Mohammed Hassan El-Yacoubi, 23, "were providing or attempting to provide material support to Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other international terrorists in violation of federal law."

The FBI agent who reviewed Idris' testimony and other unspecified documents and interviewed associates of Idris concluded Idris made "numerous false statements under oath" about losing his passport and about his political beliefs.

"I have probable cause to believe that Idris and El-Yacoubi wanted new passports ... to enhance the likelihood that they would be allowed into Israel and to avoid suspicion by Israelis that they were there to commit or support acts of terrorism," said FBI Special Agent John Wyman.

Idris was released on his own recognizance Friday.

El-Yacoubi, recipient of a four-page "farewell letter" from his brother Abdalmuhassin, was never charged with a crime.

Nevertheless, El-Yacoubi, his brother and Idris were held as material witnesses for about six weeks before the brothers were released and Idris was charged with lying to the grand jury, law enforcement sources told CNN.

All three men are U.S. citizens.

'Your hand with which you attack'

Idris and El-Yacoubi flew to Israel aboard El Al, the Israeli national airline, but were denied entry into the country after their luggage -- left behind at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York -- was searched.

The men told El Al security agents they were planning to go sightseeing and visit Muslim holy sites, such as the Al-Aqsa mosque, during Ramadan last December.

But a four-page, handwritten, Arabic-language letter in El-Yacoubi's bag suggested another plan, according to the FBI.

The letter, dated a week before the December 13 trip, was from El-Yacoubi's younger brother, a college student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

"When I heard what you were going to carry out, my heart was filled with the feeling of grief and joy," the letter says, according to FBI translators.

"It is incumbent on me to encourage you and help you, because Islam urges jihad for the sake of Allah," it says.

"I ask God to love you and be your hearing with which you hear and your sight with which you see, and your hand with which you attack," the letter says.

It also refers to a "sacrifice ... in defense of Islam and the homelands and territories of Muslims" and quotes a passage of the Koran about "those forced to leave their homes" -- a phrase commonly used by Palestinians fighting Israel, the FBI's Wyman said.

"The overall tone of the letter clearly implies the use of violence and/or the loss of life," Wyman wrote in his affidavit. "It appears the older brother was going to commit suicide."

'Jewish paranoia and hatred'

Contacted at his home in Fairfax, Virginia, the elder El-Yacoubi told CNN: "The whole thing was a big misunderstanding that was cleared up. Ninety-eight percent of the information they relied on has proven to be false and inaccurate."

He said the letter addressed to him was not meant to signify his intention to participate in a suicide mission and that the FBI mistranslated "jihad," which literally means struggle, although usually is interpreted in the West to mean "Holy War."

Wyman's affidavit said the letter appeared to be a "farewell letter" from one brother to another on "a suicide mission in the name of 'Jihad.'"

A U.S. government source told CNN Tuesday the El-Yacoubi brothers were released because "we did not have enough evidence to hold them any longer."

Idris and El-Yacoubi were also traveling with $2,000, a cell phone, a compass, a calculator, and a video camera. They returned to the United States three days after their departure. The letter was not translated until three days after that.

Idris testified he and El-Yacoubi had obtained new passports because they lost their old ones. Yacoubi told investigators, however, the men discarded their old passports because they contained entry stamps for Saudi Arabia, which they believed could make Israeli authorities suspicious.

Idris also testified he believed suicide bombings are never justified. A confidential witness told the FBI, however, that "Idris and El-Yacoubi believed that suicide bombings were an effective defensive measure for the Palestinian people, in that it was the only weapons they have left," according the Wyman affidavit.

Another confidential witness told the FBI that Idris was very focused on Palestinian issues and full of "Jewish paranoia and hatred."

Thomas Walsh, an attorney for Idris, said his client had not seen the letter from El-Yacoubi's brother prior to the trip and that the brother was concerned the two men were traveling to a dangerous place, not that they were on a suicide mission.

El-Yacoubi's attorney, Jefferson Gray, said his client "had no criminal purpose in making his trip to Israel and is not associated with any radical or terrorist group."

Idris and El-Yacoubi are school friends who attended the same elementary and high school, Islamic Saudi Academy, in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the criminal complaint.

-- CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti and producers Phil Hirschkorn, Terry Frieden, Kevin Bohn and Laura Bernardini contributed to this story.