A Louisiana man suspected of assisting Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel made his first court appearance before a magistrate judge on Friday.
The FBI arrested Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi on Thursday, according to the Justice Department. The alleged Hamas-affiliated fighter was living in Lafayette, in the heart of the state’s Cajun Country.
Federal agents say Al-Muhtadi is an operative for the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DRLP), the National Resistance Brigades—a Hamas-aligned paramilitary group in Gaza that participated in the attack against Israel.
Federal prosecutors say Al-Mutadi armed himself and recruited other fighters to enter Israel during the Hamas-led attack….