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This is a representational image (Pic credit: Canva)
The FBI and Pittsburgh police apprehended two local residents on Wednesday, charging them with hate crimes for allegedly vandalising Jewish buildings in July.
One suspect, Mohamad Hamad, who claimed to be a "
Hamas
operative", was found to be a Pennsylvania Air National Guard member based near Pittsburgh International Airport. According to the criminal complaint, he had purchased and tested explosive materials for a potential attack.
The dual US-Lebanese citizen had made donations to
Squad Democrats
who have labelled Israel's military response in Gaza as genocide and advocated for restricting US arms supplies to Israel during its conflict with Iran and its allied militant groups.
His alleged Jewish accomplice, Talya Lubit, was charged for helping spray pro-Hamas graffiti on Jewish facilities. She had described Jews as "enemies" and supported a contentious cease-fire resolution against Israel. She also joined others in defending Pittsburgh's Representative Summer Lee, who recently attributed blame to Israel for the 7 October Hamas attack.
Jeremy Kazzaz, who leads the Beacon Coalition, an organisation combating antisemitism in politics, told The Post, "In Pittsburgh, we've seen an infiltration of the Democratic Party by anti-Israel extremists who frequently target the Jewish community."
These serious charges emerge amid growing concerns about antisemitism, following attacks on three Jewish University of Pittsburgh students this term, and with 62% of Jewish Americans expressing worry about antisemitism within the Democratic Party.
"Imagine the terror they saw if they had cams. Hamas operative ripping off their flags in white suburbia," Hamad, from Coraopolis near Pittsburgh, communicated to an FBI-known contact via Signal.
This encrypted platform is comparable to Telegram, which Hamas members utilised to distribute footage of their 7 October attack, when over 2,000 armed militants invaded southern Israel, resulting in more than 1,400 casualties and hostages.
Hamad expressed his desire for martyrdom through Signal messages.
He shared what appeared to be a self-portrait wearing a green Hamas-logoed headband and black sweatshirt stating "RESPECT EXISTENCE OR EXPECT RESISTANCE", writing, "my heart yearns for being with my brothers overseas."
Records indicate his purchase of Indian Black aluminium powder and potassium perchlorate, both explosive components.
Communications reveal Hamad's plans to test a "big shell" on 6 July as preparation for a future explosion, and his enthusiasm over footage showing "what appears to be the detonation of an explosive device and corresponding fireball," according to FBI Special Agent Brian Collins.
Kazzaz expressed concern that Hamad might have been planning an attack on Pittsburgh's Jewish community after reviewing the criminal complaint.
Hamad coordinated with Lubit, a Jewish activist from Pittsburgh's Oakland area, about defacing Jewish buildings. Subsequently, red graffiti appeared at Chabad of Squirrel Hill on 29 July, displaying "Jews 4 Palestine" and an inverted triangle, a symbol Hamas uses to mark Israeli targets in Gaza.
Similar vandalism occurred at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, with the message "Funds Genocide Jews, Hate Zionists."
Lubit appeared to grapple with her Jewish identity alongside her anti-Israel stance.
"I can literally feel myself starting to see Jews as my enemies," the Dickinson College graduate messaged Hamad before the vandalism. Under the alias "Warsaw", she shared an image of Israel's flag with a Nazi swastika in a group chat, according to the complaint.
"Every day I think, 'I don't want to be Jewish anymore,'" she told Hamad, describing it as conflicting with "being anti-oppression."
Kazzaz noted this oppressor-versus-oppressed perspective "led to a radicalisation of two people from very different backgrounds" resulting in vandalism and Hamad's attempts to acquire explosive materials.
He suggested Democratic officials have heightened risks through anti-Israel rhetoric.
"The way that Summer Lee views the world and has used her bully pulpit has legitimised these extremists," Kazzaz said regarding the congresswoman who describes Israel's defensive war as "genocide" whilst advocating resistance.
"That allows them in some perverse way to justify acts of terrorism against random, innocent people," he added.
"Jews are always viewed as the oppressor in this binary."
Both suspects maintain connections to anti-Israel politics and Squad Democrats.
Hamad contributed $10 to Representative Ilhan Omar in November 2023, following her call for an Israeli cease-fire on 7 October. He also donated $5 to Representative Rashida Tlaib in April, after her censure for characterising Hamas' attack as "resistance" against Israel's "apartheid government."
Lubit joined over 130 Jewish community members signing a letter supporting Lee, who demanded a cease-fire shortly after 7 October, despite appeals from 40 Pittsburgh Jewish leaders for solidarity with Israel and Jews.
Harris campaign staff member Sam Wasserman also endorsed the letter, alongside others who later backed a county council resolution demanding immediate cease-fire and release of all Palestinian prisoners, including known militants, in exchange for Hamas-held hostages.
"If this is a war, it did not start on October 7," Lubit said in March, advocating for the resolution that failed but gained support from three Democratic council members, prefiguring similar statements by Lee, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato attributing the 7 October attack to Israel.
"This is the dangerous situation that many of us in the situation have been trying to convey to elected officials and our neighbours, that the use of violent rhetoric, the misuse of language, and the leaning on age-old antisemitic tropes makes us and our community less safe," Kazzaz stated.
He criticised Democrats for prioritising pro-Palestinian voters over safety concerns, enabling anti-Israel voices within the party.
Despite Senator Bob Casey's criticism of Lee's statement about Israel's responsibility for the deadliest day since the Holocaust, he maintains his endorsement, causing Jewish Democrats to consider supporting Republican candidate Dave McCormick.
"When [Democrats] are putting party over country, they are sweeping these dangers under the rug. And these arrests are a reflection of that," Kazzaz said.
"Jewish hatred can actually morph into actually dangerous situations and violence."
