A group of three Pittsburgh-area suspects was charged Tuesday in a case involving a bomb plot and the vandalism of Jewish buildings.
Two of the suspects, Talya Lubit, 24, of Pittsburgh, and Mohamad Hamad, 23, of suburban Coraopolis, had previously been indicted for conspiracy and defacing a religious building, and accused of spray painting “Jews 4 Palestine,” and an inverted red triangle on the Chabad of Squirrel Hill synagogue in July.
The red triangle is a symbol used by the militant group Hamas to designate buildings for destruction and to mark out targeted Israeli soldiers in propaganda videos.
In a new superseding indictment, Mr. Hamad, a member of the U.S. Air Force Pennsylvania Air National Guard, is also accused of lying to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency in his attempts to secure a top secret security clearance.
He told DSCA personnel that he was 100% loyal to the United States, but expressed in messages to others that Lebanon and Palestine came first, that he only joined the military to learn skills to protect those places and referred to himself as a terrorist and “Hamas operative.”
According to the indictment, Mr. Hamad also wrote to Ms. Lubit that “my ultimate goal in life is shaheed, everything else doesn’t matter nearly as much … I don’t see myself living long … My heart yearns for being with my brothers overseas.” Shaheed is a Muslim religious term referring to martyrdom.
Mr. Hamad is also accused of partnering with Micaiah Collins, 22, of Pittsburgh, to create and possess homemade explosives.
Mr. Hamad purportedly bought combustible Indian black aluminum powder, the oxidizing chemical potassium perchlorate KCIO4 and other materials to make multiple homemade pipe bombs.
Ms. Collins asked Mr. Hamad in one chat if a design featuring a pipe bomb and multiple spray paint cans could “rlly take bros ankles … concrete gon blow?” The indictment did not make clear who the “bro” Ms. Collins refers to could be.
In addition to the Chabad building, Mr. Hamad and Ms. Lubit are also accused of defacing a sign used by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh accusing the organization of funding genocide. They are also accused of drawing a red heart as part of a message saying that they love Jews but hate Zionists.
Ms. Lubit signed a 2023 letter to Rep. Summer Lee, Pennsylvania Democrat, as one of over 100 members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, calling on the Biden administration to force a ceasefire in the conflict and thanking Ms. Lee for “leading the calls in Congress for a ceasefire and the safe return of hostages.”
By July 2024, however, Ms. Lubit told Mr. Hamad in a message on the Signal app that “I can literally feel myself starting to see Jews as my enemies,” according to the indictment.
Pittsburgh Jewish leaders said the community is undaunted in the wake of the vandalism.
“We are committed to being Jewish loudly and proudly in the face of antisemitism and the efforts of antisemitic vandals to intimidate us. It only strengthens our resolve to spread goodness and kindness, values that they clearly oppose,” Chabad Young Professionals Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle after the original indictment of Mr. Hamad and Ms. Lubit in October.
If convicted, Mr. Hamad would face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, Ms. Collins would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 and Ms. Lubit would face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
