ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — FBI Director Kash Patel said that the indictment of six Pittsburgh men in connection with an antisemitic attack in the city was a testament to the Bureau’s mission to pursue, to the full extent of the law, those who commit acts of violence based on the victim’s religion.
Patel spoke to the Washington Examiner after convening a roundtable with Sen. David McCormick (R-PA) that brought together prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and families who have lost loved ones to drugs. Speaking from the Edward N. Cahn Federal Building, Patel said that these kinds of attacks are a primary focus for the law enforcement agency.
“We are going to call out acts of violence based upon evidence,” the director said of the March 12 Hezbollah-inspired targeted act of terrorism at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. “And the evidence shows that the Jewish community has been the target” in Pittsburgh, Michigan, and many other places.
The attacker, a 41-year-old Lebanese immigrant named Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, rammed his truck into the synagogue with the intent to kill as many Jewish people as possible.
On Monday, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh charged six men of the greater Pittsburgh area with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, obstructing justice, and conspiring to obstruct justice in relation to a September 2024 attack on a Jewish male in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
The seven-count indictment named Muhammed Koc, Omar Alshmari, Abraham Choudhry, Emirhan Arslan, Ali Alkhaleel, and Adeel Piracha as defendants.
Patel, seated beside Sen. McCormick in the courthouse for the interview, said that some of the attacks on Jewish people across the country have been inspired by foreign terrorist organizations or foreign terrorists.
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“So the American people deserve to know upfront what their law enforcement is finding and recovering and also they need to know that we are on it,” he said. “And we have identified that threat and we have continued to stay on that threat dynamic and say to the American people, ‘We’re going to inform you every step of the way.’
“We’re the most transparent FBI in history, but we’re also going to ask for the help of Americans by educating them and saying, ‘This is a threat,’” Patel said.
On Monday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said, “Antisemitism has no place in our country.” Dhillon said that the DOJ will continue to investigate allegations of violence against people of faith.
“We will work to ensure the safe exercise of religious practices — whether that be through wearing religious symbols or visiting houses of worship,” Dhillon said.
Patel said the attacks on people of the Jewish faith are not a political threat that is being made up or exaggerated. Rather, “this is the threat based on the evidence,” he said.
The Pittsburgh FBI released a detailed statement outlining the events leading up to the indictment. On Sept. 27, 2024, at 2:01 a.m. all of the defendants, except for Piracha, were part of a group that made virulent antisemitic statements to a passerby in Oakland after seeing the individual’s Star of David necklace.
After a heated conversation, in which additional antisemitic comments were made, Koc and Alshmari physically attacked the victim, causing bodily injury that included physical pain, a split lip, and recurring headaches.
The indictment charges Koc and Alshmari with aiding and abetting one another and willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the individual’s actual and perceived race and religion.
Later that day, and throughout the following months, Piracha and the other defendants discussed the incident via social media messaging and group chats. Alshmari even identified himself and Koc as two of the individuals who were listed in a University of Pittsburgh crime alert about the attack. In subsequent text messaging conversations, both Alshmari and Koc admitted to being involved in the attack on the victim.
The indictment further alleges that the defendants conspired with one another to obstruct the due administration of justice. For example, they allegedly agreed to falsely align their testimony about the attack and to provide false and misleading information before the federal grand jury.
Several defendants falsely testified as to whether they or others struck the victim, whether the attack was related to the victim’s Jewish identity and necklace, and whether they had discussed with any others about what to say to the grand jury.
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For the hate crime and obstruction of justice counts, the law provides a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000. For the conspiracy to obstruct justice count, the law provides for a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.
Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the defendant’s prior criminal history. The FBI, aided by the University of Pittsburgh Police, conducted the investigation leading to the indictment.