A self-described Hamas operative with ties to the anti-Israel "Squad" has been arrested for targeting Jews in Pittsburgh.

Mohamad Hamad, 23, of Corapolis, allegedly purchased materials for making a bomb and recorded a test run. He was caught vandalizing a synagogue in Pittsburgh with a Jewish accomplice, Talya Lubit, 24.

Terrorist tied to "Squad"

Hamad was a Pennsylvania National Guardsman stationed near Pittsburgh International Airport until September 13, 2024.

The dual U.S. and Lebanese citizen secretly identified with Hamas, sharing an image of himself in a green headband with the Hamas logo. Hamad appears to hold up a stolen U.S.-Israel flag in the picture.

In accompanying messages, Hamad called himself a "Hamas operative" and gloated about "ripping off their flags" in "white suburbia.” He also expressed a desire for a martyr's death and yearned to be "with my brothers overseas."

During the summer, Hamad plotted a campaign of intimidation toward Jews in Pittsburgh that extended to a potential bomb plot.

On June 10, Hamad purchased materials for making a bomb and set a date for a July 6 test run. The next day, Hamad sent a video to an associate of a massive fireball lighting up the sky.

Vandalized Jewish sites

On July 29, 2024, Hamad and another associate, Tanya Lubit, allegedly spray painted "Jews 4 Palestine" with an inverted red triangle, which is a pro-Hamas symbol, on the Chabad of Squirrel Hill synagogue.

The pair also vandalized the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh with the words “Funds Genocide Jews, Hate Zionists.”

Hamad and Lubit were both charged with damaging religious property and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.

Lubit, a Jewish activist from Pittsburgh, signed a letter backing Pittsburgh's representative in Congress, Summer Lee (D), last year. Lee is a vocal critic of Israel who blamed Israel for getting attacked on the one-year anniversary of Hamas' October 7 assault.'

Targeting Jews

“In Pittsburgh, we’ve seen an infiltration of the Democratic Party by anti-Israel extremists who frequently target the Jewish community,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition nonprofit fighting antisemitism in the political sphere, told The New York Post.

'The way that Summer Lee views the world and has used her bully pulpit has legitimized these extremists,” he continued.

Hamad made small donations to "Squad" Democrats such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashid Tlaib (D-MI), who have both blasted Israel's war in Gaza as a "genocide."