An illegal immigrant was found guilty in a 2025 attempted knife attack at the Israeli embassy in London.
A jury found him guilty of preparation of terrorist acts and possession of two bladed articles May 1.
Abdullah Albadri, 34, tried to scale the fence around the embassy before armed diplomatic protection officers arrested him April 28, 2025, according to the BBC.
“Why are you stopping me from making crimes?” Albadri asked the officers when they detained him.
An investigation after the attack found that Albadri wanted revenge against the Israeli government over the war in Gaza, according to the Metropolitan Police.
“I want to do something to stop the war,” Albadri told the officers who arrested him.
He had arrived in the U.K. just 16 days before the attack, crossing the English Channel from France by small boat. It was the second time he’d illegally entering the country in the same manner in four years, the BBC reported.
Albadri said during the trial that he is a member of the Bedoon tribe and grew up in Kuwait. He spent five years in prison in his home country after becoming an activist.
He first entered the U.K. in August 2021 via small boat and claimed asylum. He claimed he took a truck that he thought was going to Manchester, but instead ended up in France.
He returned to the U.K. on April 12, 2025, where he spent almost two weeks homeless in London. Twelve days after his arrival, he began looking for the location of the Israeli embassy and looked up information about “suicide among enemies,” according to the BBC.
Albadri had copied a verse titled “the benefit of martyrdom,” which was found on him when he was arrested. He also wrote a note and sent a picture of it with a knife to his mother.
“I will attack in the way of Allah and for the sake of being free from humiliation in this world,” Albadri wrote in the note.
He also messaged his mother, “I chose the path of martyrdom.”
Albadri then traveled across the city to the Israeli embassy in Kensington Gardens. He was wearing a red and white Arabic scarf, which covered his face except for his eyes — which were hidden by sunglasses.
When Albadri reached the embassy, he saluted two officers and then attempted to scale the fence. The officers pulled him off the fence and pinned him to the ground.
Five officers, one in plainclothes, detained and handcuffed him.
“I want to make a crime inside there. Why are you stopping me? Why are you stopping me from making crimes?” he asked the officers. “Why didn’t you let me in? And then do what you want to do?”
Authorities believed that, based on the evidence collected and his statements at the time of his capture, Albadri might have been hoping to get shot by the officers in “suicide by cop.”
Albadri is set to be sentenced at a later date.
