Undercover Israeli agents will testify in Louisiana against alleged Oct. 7 terrorist: Judge

Israeli government agents are set to testify under pseudonyms in an unusual federal case against a suspected Gaza terrorist captured in Louisiana.

Two Israeli Security Agency officials and one “potential” Israeli military witness may keep their aliases while taking the stand against Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al Muhtadi, an alleged participant in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, a court ruled Nov. 5. Al Muhtadi is charged with material support for Hamas, conspiracy, visa fraud, and lying to U.S. officials after authorities said he pretended to be a refugee to enter the country through a Texas airport in September 2024.

Israel tipped off the United States to al Muhtadi’s alleged extremist ties in May 2025, and an undercover FBI agent later met with him multiple times until his October 2025 arrest in Louisiana, court records show. Al Muhtadi’s defense team has argued that the case’s foreign elements hinder him from adequately defending himself, including from examining government witnesses.

But the Justice Department has established “substantial and legitimate safety and classification interests for the ISA, [Israel Defense Forces] and FBI undercover witnesses to testify under pseudonyms,” Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge David Joseph wrote. “The Government represents that the true identities of ISA and IDF personnel are classified under Israeli law and protected under U.S. classification rules, that terrorist organizations actively seek to identify ISA and IDF personnel and their families, and that revealing identities risks harm and compromises sources and methods.”

Al Muhtadi was seen in a 2025 photo loading a gun in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, apartment, according to prosecutors. (Image credit: FBI)

An attorney for al Muhtadi did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. He is set for trial on Jan. 25, 2027, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the terrorism crimes alone. Joseph also ruled against al Muhtadi on Tuesday over a request to dismiss charges.

The defense claimed it cannot obtain enough evidence related to a foreign terrorist attack, that al Muhtadi did not necessarily coordinate with Hamas, that the FBI illegally obtained call and text logs from Israel, and other complaints.

Al Muhtadi allegedly rounded up his armed comrades to cross Israel’s border upon hearing about the Oct. 7 invasion, celebrating the massacre over the phone in Arabic that day, DOJ officials claim. Officials presented years’ worth of private communications and photos allegedly showing he was involved in the National Resistance Brigades, a Hamas-aligned Palestinian leftist faction. Cellphone tracking data also placed al Muhtadi near a Jewish kibbutz where invading forces killed children and burned down homes, according to prosecutors.

“Mr. Al-Muhtadi does not dispute the government’s authority to charge these offenses in this District,” his attorney told the court in September. “He disputes that a trial on them can be conducted consistently with the Constitution. The government has chosen to prosecute conduct alleged to have occurred during one morning in Gaza, on evidence gathered there by a foreign military and records it concedes it can neither produce nor obtain.”

An FBI agent claims in court filings that al Muhtadi may have been a “senior” terrorist based on a photo posted around May 27, 2022. (Image credit: FBI)

Al Muhtadi’s wife, U.S. citizen Nieama al Ghazzawi, is also charged with visa fraud offenses for allegedly helping him enter the U.S. under false pretenses. She previously posted a GoFundMe page for al Muhtadi that raised $13,000 to “reunite” them in America, portraying him as a civilian “stuck” in the very war he is accused of fomenting.

Prosecutors and al Ghazzawi raised similar concerns about foreign evidence in a Sept. 16 motion jointly asking for more time before trial, which the court granted.

GAZA REFUGEE RAISED $13,000 ON GOFUNDME FOR ALLEGED TERRORIST HUSBAND TO ENTER US

“The defendant’s knowledge of her husband’s participation in the October 7 attacks and his affiliation with such groups will be the primary focus of Ms. Al-Ghazzawi’s case,” both sides told the court. “Significant portions of the evidence supporting these allegations thus originate from, and are controlled by, Israel.”

Al Ghazzawi also speaks Arabic and will need a translator for all court proceedings, the motion noted.

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