A Tennessee white supremacist pleaded guilty to firebombing a historic civil rights center with a napalm device while separately attempting to arm a designated foreign terrorist organization with a hit list targeting 35,000 Israelis.
Story Snapshot
- Regan Darby Prater, 28, admitted to destroying the Highlander Center with a napalm-based sparkler bomb, causing over $1.2 million in damage to the civil rights education facility
- Prater provided a list of 35,000 Israeli government affiliates to someone he believed represented Hezbollah, telling them “Start the hunt”
- The dual charges—arson and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization—carry up to 20 years in federal prison
- Prater spray-painted the Iron Guard symbol, a 1930s Romanian fascist emblem also used in the Christchurch terrorist attacks, at the crime scene
Dual Acts of Extremist Violence
Regan Darby Prater waived his right to grand jury indictment and entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The case merges two distinct criminal episodes: the 2019 arson attack on the Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, and his earlier attempt to provide material support to Hezbollah, designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States since 1997. Prater drove from his Tullahoma home to the nonprofit facility, marked the parking lot with fascist symbols, and ignited a sophisticated incendiary device that destroyed a building central to the center’s civil rights education mission.
Targeting a Civil Rights Institution
The Highlander Center has served for decades as a training ground for grassroots leaders and social movements, with deep historical ties to the Civil Rights Movement. Prater explicitly acknowledged committing the arson due to his white supremacist ideology and in response to the center’s faith-based educational priorities and civil rights association. The napalm-based sparkler bomb represented a more sophisticated weapon than typical improvised explosives, demonstrating premeditation and technical capability. The Iron Guard symbol he spray-painted connects his violence to 1930s European fascism and recent international white supremacist attacks, including the Christchurch massacre that occurred just weeks before Prater’s arson.
Man Pleads Guilty to Firebombing Nonprofit with Napalm Device – ALSO Tried to Hand Hezbollah a Hit List of 35,000 Israelis Saying “Start the Hunt” https://t.co/LjJ9Bc6A0r #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit
— Fearless45 (@Fearless45Trump) April 14, 2026
Material Support for Foreign Terrorists
Beyond domestic terrorism, Prater obtained personally identifiable information on over 35,000 individuals purportedly affiliated with the Israeli government and transmitted this targeting list to someone he believed was associated with Hezbollah. His accompanying message—”Start the hunt”—reveals intent to facilitate violence against Israeli citizens on a massive scale. This charge underscores a disturbing convergence where domestic extremists align tactically with foreign terrorist organizations despite ideological differences. The provision of such intelligence to a designated terrorist entity constitutes material support, a serious federal crime regardless of whether the recipient actually belonged to Hezbollah or whether any attacks resulted from the information.
High-Level Federal Prosecution
The Department of Justice mobilized significant resources for this case, involving both the Civil Rights Division and National Security Division alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Assistant Attorneys General Harmeet K. Dhillon and John Eisenberg’s involvement signals federal recognition of the case’s gravity as both a civil rights violation and national security threat. The FBI Nashville Field Office and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation collaborated to build evidence connecting Prater’s actions across years and criminal categories. Sentencing is scheduled for September 9 before U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville, where prosecutors will seek substantial prison time under statutes allowing up to 20 years incarceration plus fines, restitution, and supervised release.
Implications for Extremism Monitoring
This prosecution exposes troubling patterns in contemporary extremism: international coordination among white supremacist movements, willingness to collaborate with foreign terrorist organizations, and targeting of institutions representing American values of equality and civil rights. The Highlander Center must now rebuild while implementing enhanced security measures, joining countless nonprofits forced to divert resources from mission work to protection against violent extremism. For 35,000 Israeli government affiliates whose information Prater transmitted, the case raises unsettling questions about data security and how extremists obtain sensitive targeting intelligence. Federal authorities have demonstrated capability to prosecute these complex cases, yet gaps remain in understanding Prater’s networks, how he acquired the Israeli database, and whether others participated in either criminal scheme.
