Overview

• A federal judge sentenced Mufid Fawaz Alkhader to 120 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to civil-rights and firearms offenses.
• Alkhader fired two shots from a straw-purchased Kel-Tec shotgun outside Temple Israel of Albany while shouting “Free Palestine” and attempted to tear down an Israeli flag.
• Prosecutors characterized the December 2023 attack as a hate-motivated obstruction of religious exercise that forced cancellation of Hanukkah events and terrified congregants and preschoolers.
• Officials from the Justice Department, FBI and ATF highlighted interagency coordination in targeting illegal firearm acquisition and antisemitic violence.
• Defense lawyers cited Alkhader’s severe mental illness and refugee background, but Judge Anne M. Nardacci imposed a decade-long sentence to account for the trauma inflicted.