FBI Arrests Oct. 7 Terrorist in US

An alleged terrorist who participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel is currently being held in a Louisiana jail, charged earlier this month with entering the United States using a fraudulent visa given to him by the Biden administration, according to a criminal complaint and inmate records.

Federal prosecutors charged Mahmoud Amin Ya’Qub al-Muhtadi, 33, with visa fraud and support for a foreign terrorist organization, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday that details his alleged participation in Hamas’s slaughter of more than 1,200 Israelis. Al-Muhtadi is currently being held in the Saint Martin Parish Correctional Center in St. Martinville, La., inmate records show.

Al-Muhtadi, also known as Abu Ala, allegedly served as an operative in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (DFLP) military wing, a Gaza-based terror outfit that stormed through Israel on Oct. 7. When Al-Muhtadi "learned about the Hamas invasion," he allegedly "armed himself, alerted others, and crossed into Israel with the intention of assisting in Hamas’s terror attack," according to the criminal complaint, which is based on testimony from an FBI agent.

Federal investigators determined al-Muhtadi was present in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, "the location of a horrifying massacre by Hamas and its supporters," based on geolocational data gathered from his cell phone. Israel’s security services provided additional information about al-Muhtadi’s terrorist ties, the complaint states.

Shortly after Hamas breached Israeli territory, al-Muhtadi began "coordinating a group of armed fighters to join him in traveling from Gaza into Israel to participate in Hamas’s attack," the complaint alleges. About three hours after the first wave of fighters crossed into Israel, al-Muhtadi arrived near Kfar Aza.