Basking Ridge Man Sentenced, Tried To Support Terrorist Group Hamas

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — A Basking Ridge man was sentenced on Monday for concealing his attempts to provide material support to Hamas, announced U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Jonathan Xie, 25, of Basking Ridge, was sentenced to time served – 64 months. Xie previously pleaded guilty to one count of concealing attempts to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He was arrested in May 2019.

"Jonathan Xie not only admitted sending money that he hoped would be used by the terrorist organization Hamas to fund violent acts against civilians in Israel, he professed his desire to travel to Gaza to join them," Sellinger said. "Brandishing a gun and holding a Hamas flag, he also posted that he was going to shoot everybody at a pro-Israel march and ruminated how one could go on a rampage by ramming pro-Israel demonstrators with a car. This supporter of Hamas learned the true cost of supporting terrorists."

"Xie is an unfortunate example of an emerging and extremely dangerous threat the FBI Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force is seeing with much more frequency," Newark FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Nelson I. Delgado said. "The average age of the international and domestic terrorism subjects we investigate is under 21 years old, and they're being radicalized in only a few months. Xie was a teenager when he decided to send money in support of a terrorism organization and then threaten to carry out a plan to kill pro-Israeli people. We need this case to serve as a warning to parents and guardians - pay attention to what your teenagers are doing online."

Xie knowingly concealed and disguised the nature, location, source, ownership and control of his attempt to provide material support and resources to Harakat alMuqawamah al-Islamiyya and the Islamic Resistance Movement, an organization that is commonly referred to as Hamas, according to documents filed in this case and statements made in court.

Xie admitted that he knew Hamas was a designated foreign terrorist organization and has engaged in terrorist activities. He said he attempted to conceal his attempted support believing it would be used to commit or assist in the commission of a violent act, according to authorities.

In December 2018, Xie sent $100 via Moneygram to a person in Gaza who Xie believed to be a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades – a faction of Hamas that has conducted attacks, to include suicide bombings against civilian targets inside Israel.

At around the same time that Xie sent the money, he posted on his Instagram account "Just donated $100 to Hamas. Pretty sure it was illegal but I don’t give a damn," according to authorities.

In April 2019, Xie appeared in an Instagram Live video wearing a black ski mask and said he was against Zionism and the neo-liberal establishment. When asked by another person in the video if he would go to Gaza and join Hamas, Xie stated "yes, If I could find a way," according to authorities.

Later in the video, Xie displayed a Hamas flag and got a handgun. He then said, "I’m gonna go to the [expletive] pro-Israel march and I’m going to shoot everybody," according to authorities.

In subsequent Instagram posts, Xie stated, "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," according to authorities.

In April 2019, Xie sent a link to a website for the Al-Qassam Brigades to an FBI employee who was acting online in an undercover capacity. Xie described the website as a "Hamas" website and stated he had previously sent a donation to the group, according to the release.

Xie then sent screenshots of the website to the undercover employee and demonstrated how to use a new feature on the website that allows donations to be sent via Bitcoin. On or about April 26, 2019, Xie sent a donation of approximately $20 in Bitcoin – including transaction fees – via the website as a test to see whether the Bitcoin feature worked, according to the release.

In addition to the prison term, Xie was sentenced to 20 years of supervise release, including six months of home detention with location monitoring for the first six months.

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