US will not execute terrorist behind October 7 massacre – report

Gaza terrorist arrested in Louisiana over his involvement in October 7 massacre likely will not be sentenced to death if convicted.

By World Israel News Staff

A Gaza terrorist who took part in one of the massacres of Israelis perpetrated by invading terrorists on October 7, 2023, will not face the death penalty even if he is convicted, according to a report published this week.

Recently, on October 16, FBI agents arrested Mahmoud Amin Ya-qub Al-Muhtadi, a 33-year-old Gaza man currently residing in Lafayette, Louisiana.

A day later, the Justice Department announced that Al-Muhtadi was being indicted for supporting terrorism, citing his involvement in the October 7 invasion of Israel in 2023 and for lying on his visa application by falsely claiming to have never engaged in terrorism.

According to court documents, Al-Muhtadi is a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a terrorist group that split from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Shortly after the invasion of Israel began at around 6:30 a.m. on October 7, Al-Muhtadi and other DFLP terrorists joined Hamas forces crossing into Israeli territory.

Cellphone data indicates Al-Muhtadi was among the terrorists who joined the infiltration of Kfar Aza, which claimed the lives of 80 people on the kibbutz, including four with American citizenship.

Prosecutors say Al-Muhtadi not only participated in the invasion of Kfar Aza but also led the DFLP force that helped carry out the massacre of Israelis.

In recordings of phone calls obtained by the FBI, Al-Muhtadi can be heard instructing DFLP terrorists under his command to bring guns and bulletproof vests in preparation for the attack.

Less than a year later, in 2024, Al-Muhtadi applied for an American visa, falsely claiming that he had never engaged in terrorism or had ties to a terror organization.

On September 12, 2024, Al-Muhtadi moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, before later settling in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The FBI, which had been following his case, located Al-Muhtadi in June of this year. After his arrest, Attorney General Pamela Bondi called him a “monster.”

“After hiding out in the United States, this monster has been found and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7 — the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Bondi said.

However, federal prosecutors have reportedly declined to pursue the death penalty for Al-Muhtadi, who has pleaded guilty in the case.

According to a report published Monday in the Baton Rouge Advocate, Assistant US Attorney John Nickel ruled out seeking the death penalty for Al-Muhtadi.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told The New York Post that the decision not to seek the death penalty likely stemmed from a lack of evidence proving beyond a doubt Al-Muhtadi’s murder of a specific victim.

While the evidence is strong that Al-Muhtadi took part in the Kibbutz Kfar Aza massacre, proof of the killing of a specific individual is “challenging” to obtain in a distant, chaotic war zone.

“I’m not saying they can’t do it, but it’s challenging with a case like this, where most of the witnesses and evidence are in another country, in a war zone,” Rahmani said.