Petition, fundraiser launched for man accused of antisemitic vandalism, bomb-making

Mohamad Hamad, who is facing a slew of federal charges related to allegedly vandalizing a synagogue and building bombs, doesn’t believe he should be held in detention as he awaits trial.

Arrested in October 2024 in connection to antisemitic graffiti painted at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Hamad was originally released on house arrest. He was remanded to prison following a superseding indictment by a federal grand jury in April 2025.

During a May 2025 hearing where he sought his release before trial, prosecutors said Hamad identified as a “Hamas operative,” and that he “shared violent militant pro-Hamas, pro- Hezbollah content, including from the Oct. 7 attacks of multiple murdered individuals. When he shared these videos, he stated things like ‘Us Muslims never surrender or back down’ and ‘Lebanon just smoked they ass.’”

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Hamad and his supporters have created two online appeals. The first seeks signatures for a petition calling for his release. The second asks for donations to be used for his “legal fees, court costs, and other essential expenses.”

The petition for release, titled “Release Mohamad Hamad back onto house arrest,” is hosted by the site Action Network — a digital platform used by various groups, including Black Lives Matter, MoveOn and the AFL-CIO — and has a goal of 800 signatures. More than 600 people have signed the petition since it was created by someone identifying themselves as Kal Reginold.

The petition labels Hamad a “nonviolent Palestinian rights activist.” But in the superseding indictment — filed against Hamad and alleged co-conspirators Tayla A. Lubit and Micaiah Collins — the government alleges that Hamad conspired with Collins to “manufacture and possess a destructive device and discussed the potential use for the device that they were building and testing.” The indictment goes on to state that Hamad “built additional destructive devices, including two pipe bombs, and detonated those as well.”

Lubit was sentenced in September 2025 to five years of probation and ordered to pay $10,534 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and damaging or defacing religious property.

Collins, who is awaiting trial, is the daughter of Chad Collins, a pastor at Valley View Presbyterian Church in Garfield and a national organizer with Friends of Sabeel North America, an organization the Anti-Defamation League says is “a driving force behind various Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns.”

The petition for Hamad’s release is addressed to District Justice Christy Criswell Wiegand.

In the plea asking for signatures, Reginold attempts to paint Hamad’s prosecution and his subsequent detention as anti-Islamic and “part of the alarming crackdown on civil liberties.” It does not mention Hamad’s alleged attempts to build bombs or his alleged lies to the government when he sought top secret clearance during his time with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

Hamad is quoted on the webpage, accusing the government of attempting to “scare the Jewish community, and use their fear against them.”

Hamad’s brother, Ali, created the fundraising page on Chuffed, a crowdsourcing website that hosts campaigns for Lebanon, Gaza and anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, among others.

Ali claims Hamad is “awaiting trial for charges related to his loud and unapologetic advocacy for Palestinian rights,” and makes no mention of the charges against him.

The page includes a plea by Hamad in which he attempts to paint his prosecution as harassment against him and his family. It also includes a link to an 11-page screed written by Hamad, in which he refers to his prosecution as an “over blown case.” He labels the charges against him as “trumped up,” and writes that “Arab and Muslim friends and community members” were “pressured into testifying against me.”

In the document, Hamad also decries the “abandonment” he says he felt from progressive groups and the Muslim community.

After complaining of his treatment in prison, Hamad addresses the Jewish community, claiming not to be a threat. He makes no mention of the bombs he had allegedly been building or the antisemitic graffiti he is accused of painting.

He goes on to claim that “so much of this damn case is a bunch of old farts trying to and completely failing to understand harmless gen z humour and slang from college students … ”

He ends the letter with a call for support, labeling himself as “your favorite A-rab Mohamad.”

Links to the site can be found on the local chapter of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign created by the Palestinian Solidarity Working Group, which identifies itself on the campaign’s website as a “Palestinian-led, anti-zionist formation of revolutionary socialists.”

The BDS campaign encourages businesses to boycott food “produced in israel, are culturally-appropriative, and/or are made by mega-conglomerates that financially uphold the Zionist occupation of Palestine.” It has recruited a handful of Pittsburgh businesses, mostly in the city’s East End neighborhoods, to sign on to the campaign.

The NA4A website also features a link to the Pittsburgh chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.