One of the eight anti-Israel activists indicted on Wednesday over allegedly threatening University of Michigan officials seen as pro-Israel and vandalizing local Jewish organizations was on the staff of far-left U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as recently as April.

The federal indictment lists Mariam Odeh, 24, of Dearborn, Mich., as one of the defendants who allegedly carried out a series of coordinated actions targeting university leaders or organizations with connections to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks. 

On the one-year anniversary of the attacks, they vandalized Detroit’s Jewish federation building and spray-painted businesses, with words including “intifada,” according to the indictment.  

The defendants also forcibly entered and occupied university buildings, defaced property and disrupted campus events — and placed fake bloody corpses outside the homes of multiple university leaders, including then-President Santa Ono, over their perceived support for Israel. 

According to a statement in the indictment from Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, the perpetrators — while masked and hooded — “allegedly threw noxious chemicals through the windows of families’ homes and taped demand letters to their front doors” and also “discussed methods by which to harm the targets and their families, including poison, bombs, and psychological torture.”  

Odeh, who is listed in the indictment as president of the organization Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, was paid $154 by El-Sayed’s campaign on March 3 and $593 on March 13, according to fundraising disclosures first obtained by The Detroit News, which reported that the payments were described as salary disbursements. 

El-Sayed’s spokesperson, Roxie Richner, told the paper that Odeh was an hourly employee on the campaign for two weeks and has not been affiliated with it since April 15. Odeh was charged with one count of conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. 

El-Sayed is one of three candidates in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, alongside Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.

Seen as the most progressive candidate in the race, El-Sayed told Jewish supporters last month that he struggles to answer whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. He said in an interview with CNN in April that he believes the Israeli government is just as evil as Hamas.

A spokesperson for Rep. Stevens’ campaign, Arik Wolk, told JI on Thursday, “Haley condemns all forms of hate and political violence…antisemitism and political intimidation — especially violence that seeks to silence the voices of others — has no place in Michigan.”

Neither El-Sayed’s nor McMorrow’s campaigns responded to requests for comment from JI about the indictment or about Odeh’s employment on the campaign.