Israel: US Christian Plotted to Blow Up Holy Sites

An American Christian who passed himself off as an ex-Navy SEAL faces charges in Israel of trying to blow up Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities say. Israeli police and the Justice Ministry identified the man as Adam Everett Livix, 30, from Texas. Police say he faces drug charges back in the US and that he once turned down an offer from a Palestinian to assassinate President Obama during the leader's visit to the Holy Land in 2013. Authorities say Livix underwent a psychiatric evaluation yesterday after his indictment on charges of illegal weapon possession and overstaying his visa by more than a year.

Israeli authorities say Livix first arrived in Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank in early 2013. An unnamed Palestinian later asked Livix to assassinate Obama with a sniper rifle during the president's March 2013 visit to the region, an Israeli police spokesman says. Livix declined, but the FBI ended up involved in the case investigating his actions. Later that year, Livix entered Israel, the Justice Ministry says, and told Israeli friends he had strong anti-Arab sentiments. The ministry says Livix later cooperated with his roommate, a serving soldier in the Israeli military, to obtain 3 pounds of explosive material to blow up the unidentified Jerusalem holy sites in a plot that police uncovered in October. (More Israel stories.)