A self-described Hamas operative who infiltrated the US Air Force and once boasted that he’s “been a terrorist since he’s been a kid” was busted this week alongside two Pittsburgh women after the feds foiled an apparent terror plot involving a pair of pipe bombs.
Mohamad Hamad, 23, who has dual citizenship in the US and Lebanon, was already charged for defacing a synagogue was hit Tuesday with a nine-count superseding indictment along with Tayla Lubit, 24, and Micaiah Collins, 22.
“Mohamad Hamad lied about his loyalty to the United States, among other false statements, in an attempt to obtain a Top-Secret security clearance,” Acting US Attorney Rivetti said.
“During that time, he openly expressed support for Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Hamas. In addition to his previously charged role in defacing Jewish religious property, he also conspired with others named in this Superseding Indictment to manufacture and detonate destructive devices.”
Hamad and Lubit, were both previously indicted for scrawling red anti-Zionist graffiti on the Chabad of Squirrel Hill’s synagogue and defacing the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s office building.
Shortly after enlisting in the Air Force, Pennsylvania Air National Guard in June 2023, Hamad, who lived in Coraopolis, Pa., privately messaged an associate in Ohio that “[i]t’s still Palestine on top though make no mistake,” prosecutors allege.
During his Air Force training, Hamad privately shared footage Hamas’ violent attacks against Israel with an associate and wrote that “Us Muslims never surrender or back down,” the indictment claims.
In December of 2023, Hamad completed the paperwork to obtain a top-secret security clearance and later had three interviews and a background check with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, during which he allegedly lied about his loyalty to the US.
“Been a terrorist since I was a kid in Lebanon, real s–t,” Hamad wrote in a June 2024 Signal message to Collins alongside a photo of him as a child holding up a gun, prosecutors said.
Around that time, Hamad and Collins conspired to develop a “destructive device” and detonated a prototype, while musing over the damage it could do.
“That s–t was a blast,” Hamad wrote in a July 7, 2024 message to Collins per prosecutors.
Hamad later built two pipe bombs and additional “destructive devices” before detonating them as well.
Following the initial test explosion, Hamad proudly declared himself a “Hamas operative” in private messages and mused about the “terror” residents may have felt if they saw him dressed in a mask while ripping up Israeli flags in “white suburbia,” the indictment alleges.
On Instagram, Hamad paid homage to Hamas leaders, writing, “Without these men our resistance would be 100 years behind.”
Prosecutors did not divulge any specific plot Hamad may have had with the explosive devices.
Later that July, he and Lubit scrawled red “Jews 4 Palestine” graffiti on Chabad of Squirrel Hill and “Funds Genocide Jews, Hate Zionists” on the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s office building.
“I can literally feel myself starting to see Jews as my enemies,” Lubit wrote in a message to Hamad that July.
“Like, I’m ANGRY. I’m so tired of feeling like being Jewish means I have to second guess being anti oppression,” she said in another message. “
I will not survive being Jewish if I don’t learn to get past that. I’ll just end up abandoning it.”
Lubit also allegedly help Hamad identify Jewish buildings in the area to target.
Authorities ultimately traced the graffiti back to Hamad and later uncovered his development of pipe bombs and other explosive devices, according to the FBI.
“We always rely on tips from the public,” a spokesperson told The Post. “This really started with the vandalism to the religious institutions here … determining the suspects in that and determining what their motivations were for the fairly strict criteria for a federal hate crime.”
Hamad is facing charges for making false statements, possession of destructive devices, conspiracy, defacing and damaging a religious building, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
If convicted, he could get sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars and get hit with up to $250,000 in fines.
Collins is also facing charges of conspiracy, which entails up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Lubit is facing charges for conspiracy and defacing and damaging a religious building, which includes up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
“The FBI and our partners are committed to investigating and prosecuting individuals who reportedly choose to lie about being loyal to this country and instead engage in dangerous, menacing, and illegal activities,” FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said in a statement.
