update deskU.S. News

Alleged synagogue vandals in Pennsylvania praised Rep. Lee’s anti-Israel advocacy

Talya Lubit and Mohamad Hamad have been charged with spray-painting a Hamas triangle and anti-Jewish slogans; they also donated to House reps and signed a letter pushing for a ceasefire.

A memorial outside the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh following the mass shooting on Oct. 27, 2018, which left 11 worshippers dead. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
A memorial outside the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh following the mass shooting on Oct. 27, 2018, which left 11 worshippers dead. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Two individuals charged with vandalizing Pittsburgh Jewish organizations have expressed support for Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—members of the progressive, anti-Israel “Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

Pennsylvania law enforcement says that Talya Lubit and Mohamad Hamad spray-painted an inverted red Hamas triangle with “Jews 4 Palestine” at the Chabad of Squirrel Hill and “Hate Zionists” at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

On Nov. 20, 2023—one month after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people—Lee published an open letter calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza signed by more than “130 members of the Pittsburgh Jewish Community.” It included Lubit’s name.

Records through the Federal Election Commission show that Hamad donated $10 and $5 to ActBlue with directions to send them respectively to Omar and Tlaib.

An online profile for Lubit uncovered by the Free Beacon characterized her as an agnostic Jew who studies international relations and Arabic. Prosecutors say Hamad, a U.S. and Lebanese citizen, calls himself a “Hamas operative” and planned to buy explosives for an attack.

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