Self-proclaimed Hamas operative in US Air Force indicted over pipe bomb plot: Been a terrorist since I was a kid

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...