LA Resident Charged of Aiding Militant Group in 7 October Attack on Israel, American Prosecutors Allege
US federal attorneys have charged a Louisiana inhabitant of participating in the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, as per newly unsealed court papers.
The defendant, 33, allegedly equipped him and became part of a paramilitary group that engaged together with Hamas during the 2023 attack that claimed the lives of over a thousand Israelis, triggering two years of conflict that killed many additional individuals.
A year after the incident, he supposedly travelled to the United States on a fake visa and obtained status as a permanent resident.
The accused was indicted with providing, attempting to furnish or plotting to deliver material support to a foreign terrorist organization and the fraud and misuse of a visa or other documents.
Reported Role with Armed Faction
Mr al-Muhtadi was reportedly an operative of the NRB, the armed branch of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the complaint filed by the FBI.
He is charged of coordinating a "unit of militants" to enter into Israel after learning about the raid and requested one man to "bring the rifles", court documents show.
Mr al-Muhtadi sent communications asking others to provide a bulletproof vest for another man and rounds, prosecutors allege.
Hours following the 7 October assault started, his phone connected to a signal tower close to the kibbutz, the location of a massacre, the records stated.
Legal Proceedings and Response
The legal document indicated that Mr al-Muhtadi denied ever having been engaged in acts of terror on his US immigration form.
Upon arriving to the US, he lived in a few of locations before landing in the Louisiana city, where he was employed in a nearby restaurant.
He was arrested on the past Thursday, the DOJ announced.
In a hearing in Louisiana on the following day, he was asked if he understood the allegations facing him, an interpreter translated his answer as "affirmative, but there are a lot of points mentioned in this document that are so false, I am not guilty", as reported by sources.
The court filings do not charge the defendant of particular offenses or killings. US prosecutors have previously charged senior members of Hamas with the fatalities of US citizens on 7 October.
