A man living and working in Lafayette who federal authorities say is a member of a terrorist organization and participated in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel, appeared in court for the first time Friday.
Gaza-born Mahmoud Amin Yaโqub al-Muhtadi, 33, also known as Abu Ala, was arrested on a federal warrant and jailed in St. Martin Parish on Thursday.
He faces federal charges of supporting a terrorist organization and visa fraud for providing false information June 26, 2024, on his visa application to enter the United States and obtain legal permanent resident status. He allegedly indicated he had not ever served in a paramilitary or terrorist group.ย
If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
The FBI's criminal complaint, which al-Muhtadi heard for the first time in court Friday as an interpreter translated it into Arabic, accuses him of organizing armed fighters in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and 46 U.S. citizens, including civilians, women and children.
The affidavit was submitted by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Alexandria O'Donnell to establish probable cause.
Al-Muhtadi is expected back in court Oct. 22 for a detention hearing to determine if he qualifies for release on bond, Lester Gauthier, a Lafayette attorney who represented al-Muhtadi only for the hearing Friday, said.
Wearing a tan T-shirt and olive green pants and restrained with handcuffs, a bearded al-Muhtadi said through an interpreter that much of the material in the affidavit is false and he is innocent.
His wife attended the lengthy hearing Friday. She declined to speak with the news media.
Al-Muhtadi entered the country on Sept. 12, 2024, through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Documents show he has been living in Lafayette since at least May, working in a local restaurant after relocating from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
According to the affidavit, al-Muhtadi has been a member of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, since at least 2019. Officials alleged he is a senior member of the group and was tasked with training younger militants.
Israel provided the U.S. government with information that al-Muhtadi participated in the attacks and fled Gaza, O'Donnell wrote. His social media and email accounts show extensive evidence against him, she said, including photos of al-Muhtadi wearing the red headband of the NRB and allegedly providing firearms training and a photo of him with 15 young, armed men that he desribed as his group.
Al-Muhtadi, in May of 2021, O'Donnell wrote, sent a message to another social media user describing an NRB attack on an Israeli military outpost near the Gaza border. He allegedly wrote, "I swear by God, we burned them! This battle is different for us. God is the helper! Long live the resistance."
In August, federal authorities obtained six audio recordings determined to be telephone calls by al-Muhtadi on the day of the Israeli massacre. An FBIย agent familiar with al-Muhtadi confirmed he is the speaker in the call.
On the morning of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, O'Donnell wrote, al-Muhtadi learned of the Hamas invasion, which began around 6:30 a.m. He made phone calls about the attack, armed himself and gathered other armed fighters.
He allegedly crossed into Israel by 9:30 a.m. through a breach in the border in the Malaka region. At least one person wearing an NRB patch is shown on film outside Nahal Oz, a kibbutz in Isreal near the border fence abutting the Malaka region in Gaza, murdering a Tanzanian student who was kidnapped from the kibbutz.
O'Donnell said al-Muhtadi's phone location on the day of the attack showed he was near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, an area near the Israel-Gaza border where 64 people were killed.
The affidavit read in court Friday describes the murder of several American citizens in the Kfar Aza kibbutzim area.
They included an American citizen who photographed several Hamas paragliders approaching the kibbutz from the air and landing in front of his home. He was shot and killed shortly after taking the photos.
His 38-year-old wife was in the house with their children. Two of the children, ages 6 and 9, hid in a wardrobe next to their mother's body for 12 hours. The couple's 3-year-old daughter fled, covered in her father's blood, to a neighbor's house. She was kidnapped later that day by terrorists and releated 50 days later as part of a hostage exchange.
A 67-year-old American woman and her husband living in Kfar Aza sheltered in their home when the Hamas rocket attack began. Around 5 p.m., she sent a message that terrorists had broken into their safe room. They appear to have been shot and killed shortly after she sent the message begging for help.
A 22-year-old American who was a member of the Israel Defense Forces learned about the attack on Oct. 7 while he was in Jerusalem with his wife. On his own initiative, he traveled to the Kfar Aza area, O'Donnell wrote, to help evacuate residents. He was killed by terrorists later that day.
ถถา๕h Attorney General Liz Murrell said in a prepared statement Friday,ย โThe massacre of innocent Israeli men, women and children on Oct. 7 was evil personified. If what is alleged is true, this person needs to be prosecuted to the absolute fullest extent of the law. If the death penalty is available, the federal government should seek it. If state charges can be lodged, we will seek them."