A 24-year-old Irish-American man with a military record was indicted on terrorism charges for traveling to Lebanon and Syria in an attempt to join Hezbollah, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Jack Danaher Molloy was arrested in Chicago in early December for lying to FBI agents while being investigated for his effort to join the Lebanese terror group, the Justice Department said in a statement. When FBI agents questioned whether he had ever had any intention of joining Hezbollah, Molloy said he had no plans to do so and had had no business or plans in Syria.
In fact, according to the department, Molloy traveled to Lebanon in August 2024 in an attempt to enlist with Hezbollah and, after being rebuffed, ventured to Syria to try his fortunes with the terror group there. At the time, Israel and Hezbollah were in the midst of a yearlong, escalating conflict on Israel’s northern border.
When Molloy eventually returned to Pittsburgh from the Middle East in October, he was questioned at the airport by FBI agents.
According to an unsealed affidavit, Molloy declared “a very fierce hatred of these Zionists” and was excited by the prospect of fighting them.
Molloy frequently employed antisemitic and violent names and references in usernames and social media posts, according to the affidavit, which said one of his email addresses was glassofjuice88@[REDACTED].com. The first phrase is sometimes used by extremists as a homophone for “gas the Jews,” while 88 is a common white supremacist code for “Heil Hitler.” The affidavit also said that around Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ invasion of Israel, Molloy created the email kikekiller696969@[REDACTED].com and googled how to join Hezbollah.
Molloy is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland who served about a month of active duty as an American soldier in 2019 and later sought to join an Army training program at the University of Illinois Chicago.
He converted to Shia Islam in February 2024 and was known among his contacts as “Yahya,” per the affidavit. (Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, was the architect of the Oct. 7 attack and led the group until Israeli troops killed him in October.)
Molloy allegedly revealed to his mother in a Whatsapp message that he intended to join Hezbollah to kill Jews, and was also considering fighting for Russia, an ally of the recently ousted Syrian regime, against Ukraine in order to eventually join Hezbollah. When his mother asked him if his “master plan was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews,” he answered that it was.
As documented in the affidavit, communication between Molloy and his contacts also shed light on Hezbollah’s recruitment and training practices and indicated that they were in disarray during the time he sought to join the group, as Israel ratcheted up pressure through a mass pager detonation in advance of a ground invasion. At one point, a contact urged Molloy to leave, saying that Hezbollah was “not accepting anyone and due to the high number of Mossad agents, and moles, appearing inside.” She told him that he should consider other ways to achieve jihad.
“Sometimes a voice is far more powerful than a weapon and sometimes a pen is far more powerful than a knife,” the contact told Molloy via WhatsApp, according to the affidavit.
Upon their confiscation, his cell phone and laptop were reportedly found to have multiple violent antisemitic memes, Hezbollah propaganda, and images that appear to show solidarity between a Nazi SS soldier and a generic jihadi soldier.
In mid-November, Molloy also allegedly visited a website that said where Robert Bowers, who committed the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, was imprisoned.
“As alleged, Jack Molloy, an avowed adherent of Hizballah harboring deep-seated animus against Jews, took many steps over a period of months — at home and abroad — in his effort to join and fight for this deadly foreign terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Eric G. Olshan said in a statement Thursday. “This case is yet another sobering reminder of the threat of radicalized violence against Americans.”
Molloy faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both for the charge of providing material support for a foreign terror organization. Each charge of making a false statement to the FBI carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, according to the Justice Department.
