30°
Jonathan Xie, a Basking Ridge resident, admitted to sending money to Hamas to fund violent acts against Israeli civilians while brandishing a gun and holding a Hamas flag on an Instagram Live stream, US Attorney Phillip Sellinger said. He had pleaded guilty in 2020 and was being held without bail.
In December 2018, Xie sent $100 via Moneygram to an individual in Gaza he believed was a member of Al-Qassam Brigades, a faction of Hamas responsible for terrorist attacks against civilians, Sellinger said.
"Just donated $100 to Hamas," Xie said on Instagram. "Pretty sure it was illegal, but I don't give a damn."
In April 2019, Xie appeared in an Instagram Live video wearing a black ski mask and stated that he was against Zionism and the neo-liberal establishment, Sellinger said.
“I’m gonna go to the [expletive] pro-Israel march and I’m going to shoot everybody," Xie said while holding a gun flanked by a Hamas flag. “I want to shoot the pro-Israel demonstrators . . . you can get a gun and shoot your way through or use a vehicle and ram people . . . all you need is a gun or vehicle to go on a rampage . . . I do not care if security forces come after me, they will have to put a bullet in my head to stop me.”
Later that month, Xie sent a link to a website for Al-Qassam Brigades to an FBI employee working undercover, saying he had sent a donation to the group, Sellinger said.
Xie was also sentenced to 20 years of supervised release, including six months of home detention with location monitoring for the first six months.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Rutherford and receive free news updates.
