UK man who called for mass murder of Jews gets 12 years for promoting terrorism

Gabriel Budasz, 24, was caught after a Jewish security organization found his violent and threatening posts online and passed along the information to the police.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A British antisemitic extremist was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for several terrorism offences due in part to his encouragement of people to murder Jews and posting a detailed video on how to make an explosive device from household materials.

Gabriel Budasz, 24, was caught in the summer of 2023 after a Jewish security organization, Community Security Trust (CST), found and traced his violent and threatening posts online for several months before passing along the information to the police, the group said.

Budasz had written messages such as “Kill the niggers, kill the Jews, kill the political leaders,” Judge Brian Forster wrote in his sentencing summary.

He had also revealed his “clear interest in white supremacy” and support for Brenton Tarrant, posting the livestream Tarrant produced as he murdered 51 people in one day in two mass shootings in mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019.

“You also posted on Twitter: ‘To any current or future state agents investigating me: I meant everything I said and more. I am a genuine unhinged threat to you and your society. I’m going to build a bomb,’” the judge added.

Another video had “graphic” scenes along with “instructions on how to torture, mutilate, and eventually kill a living victim with a knife,” Forster noted.

Counter Terrorism Policing South East chief Olly Wright, whose unit found the incriminating evidence on Budasz’ computer and mobile devices, said that the emigree from Poland had sent on Telegram “step-by-step instructions on how to make a viable bomb.”

He “had also used a 3D printer to print parts of a 3D gun,” and “spread hateful content online including racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic statements,” the detective chief superintendent said.

As part of his defense, Budasz’ lawyer had said that his client had only 44 followers on social media, suffered from an autistic condition called Asperger’s Syndrome and had partly grown up in the foster care system.

The judge dismissed the psychological excuse, saying there was “no direct connection” between it and his crimes, citing in support two experts who had testified that Budasz was “able to form an intent.”

Budasz had previously pled guilty to six counts of possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

A jury had then found him guilty of four counts of encouraging terrorism, one count of dissemination of a terrorist publication, and one count of sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

“The kind of content Budasz made available online stirs up dangerous and extreme right-wing ideologies among those who access it, with all sorts of harm to communities in this country,” said Wright. “His sentencing will now prevent him from spreading this hate online, and we will continue our work to deal with others who would do the same.”