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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.
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