Police arrest two in connection with antisemitic graffiti
“Thank God that they were able to find and arrest the perpetrators"
Two people have been arrested, and are facing federal hate crime charges, in connection to graffiti painted at Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in July.
Mohamad Hamad, 23, of Coraopolis and Talya A. Lubit, 24, of Pittsburgh have been charged with damaging religious property and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
Hamad was a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, assigned to the 171st Maintenance Squadron n Moon Township, until Sept. 2024, when he was barred from the facility. Lubit is an Oakland resident.
The 20-page complaint is replete with information about the pair, the investigation conducted by the FBI and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, the planning of the crime and text conversations between Hamad and Lubit.
The criminal complaint alleges that on the early morning of July 29, an individual spray painted the words “Jews 4 Palestine” and an inverted red triangle at Chabad of Squirrel Hill. The inverted red triangle has been used by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets. The symbol is also used “to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The same person painted “Funds genocide Jews, Hate Zionists” with a red heart on a sign at the Federation.
The incident at Chabad was captured on video and investigators believe that Lubit painted the graffiti.
Hamad, the complaint alleges, purchased the Strawberry Fields red spray paint at a Walmart.
In both incidents, the person committing the crimes left in a dark sedan, later identified as a BMW owned by Hamad.
When law enforcement executed a search warrant on Hamad’s residence, they found the spray paint can, a cell phone and a sweatshirt with an inverted triangle symbol and the words “Respect existence or expect resistance,” and the image of a masked individual carrying a firearm.
Evidence found during a subsequent search of Hamad’s phone included a Google Maps search history using the terms “Chabad,” “Chabad of Squirrel Hill,” “Chabad Young Professionals Pittsburgh,” “Chabad Young,” “Chabad Lubavitch of Western Pennsylvania” and “245 Melwood Avenue,” the final search being for Lubit’s address at the time.
The phone also included contact information for Lubit, as well as her username “Warsaw,” for Signal, an encrypted messaging app.
Text conversations on the app paint Hamad as a radicalized individual committed to the idea of violence and with an allegiance to the terrorist group Hamas.
“My ultimate goal in life is Shaheed,” he wrote. “Shaheed” is defined as a martyr in the Islamic faith.
Other messages from Hamad included: “My goals are very different from the average person”; “I don’t see myself living long”; “For me it’s really hard to think long term”; and “But my heart yearns for being with my brothers overseas.”
Email records include two online purchases for explosive material in June 2024 that were delivered to Hamad’s home address.
Signal messages between Hamad and a person identified as “Individual 1” reveal that the two made plans to practice lighting a “big shell” in July 2024, as practice for a future explosion.
Another message sent to a second individual includes a photo that appears to show Hamad wearing a green headband with the Hamas logo and the same black sweatshirt found in his home.
In November 2023, Lubit signed a letter posted to Rep. Summer Lee’s official House website that was signed by “130+ members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community.” It thanked Lee for her position calling on the Biden administration and Congress to facilitate a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. Lee began calling for a cease-fire shortly after Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
In Signal messages between Lubit and Hamad, Lubit wrote: “If I join you in doing graffiti on this building it matters to me that it is in good taste”; “If we target Jewish institutions before Zionist non Jewish ones I think they’ll see it as a Jew v other thing”; “Decorating Chabad”; “They usually use buildings for synagogues. Idk why they use their own spaces. Idk if it’s a funding thing or lack of people”; “I can literally feel myself starting to see Jews as my enemies”; and “I’m tired of the voice in my head, telling me that a Jews would not go with the oppressed.”
After police obtained Lubit’s cell phone they found that she conducted a factory reset of the device one day after the execution of the search warrant at Hamad’s home.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, the two face a maximum total sentence of two years in prison, a fine of $200,000 or both.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey visited both sites the morning of the vandalism. He said in a statement to the Chronicle that threats of violence targeting people and places based on religion or race are unacceptable.
“As the arrest of the two individuals who defaced two Jewish Buildings demonstrate, we remain committed to finding and arresting those who try to invoke fear and hate through criminal acts of intimidation,” he said.
In a statement that expressed gratitude to law enforcement organizations involved with the investigation, Federation President and CEO Jeff Finkelstein said there has been a steady rise in antisemitism during the past year.
“This month, as we marked the sixth anniversary of the attack at the Tree of Life building, the deadliest antisemitic incident in U.S. history, our community remains acutely aware of the need for vigilance,” Finkelstein said. “This recent attack on our institutions and homes underscores the importance of the Federation’s work in enhancing security and fostering resilience across our community.”
Chabad of Squirrel Hill Rabbi Yisroel Altein said he was very grateful to law enforcement, noting that patience was required while the investigation was underway.
Shawn Brokos, the Federation’s community security director, said these types of investigations take time and that the breadth of the information in the criminal complaint bears out the wait.
The arrest, she said, highlights the importance of community involvement. She noted that people who shared information and video recordings helped law enforcement with its investigation.
“We are all responsible for our own security,” Brokos said. “That’s each and every one of us. It’s a team effort. That’s how this case went. It was a collaborative effort.”
Chabad Young Professionals Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld said that he has been in touch with Brokos and the Pittsburgh police since learning his organization was searched by Hamad.
“We remain very confident in the safety precautions we’ve already implemented and will continue to enhance them at the guidance of local authorities,” he said.
That being said, Rosenfeld was clear, Chabad Young Professionals will not be intimidated.
“We are committed to being Jewish loudly and proudly in the fact of antisemitism and the efforts of antisemitic vandals to intimidate us,” he said. “It only strengthens our resolve to spread goodness and kindness, values that they clearly oppose.”
For his part, Altein’s reaction best summed up the feelings of the community.
“Thank God that they were able to find and arrest the perpetrators,” he said. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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