A 20-year-old New Jersey man sought to aid the Islamic terrorist group Hamas and threatened to "shoot everybody" at an unspecified pro-Israel demonstration, federal authorities said on Wednesday.
Jonathan Xie was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, making false statements and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The material support carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
At his initial court appearance on Wednesday afternoon, he was ordered to be held without bail. His public defender didn't say whether he would file a motion for a bail hearing.
Jonathan Xie [Screenshot] CBS News via YouTube
His parents attended the proceeding but declined to comment afterward.
Xie sent $100 to a person he believed was affiliated with a faction of Hamas last December, and a few days later, posted on his Instagram account that he was "pretty sure it was illegal but I don't give a damn," according to a criminal complaint.
The U.S. has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
"Homegrown violent extremists like Xie are a serious threat to national security," U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement. "The actions that he took and planned to take made that threat both clear and present."
Xie also allegedly lied on security forms he filled out when he sought to join the U.S. Army by not mentioning the donation.
The U.S. attorney's office also alleged Xie posted on Instagram that he wanted to bomb the Israeli embassy and Trump Tower in New York.
According to the criminal complaint, a person wearing a black ski mask later identified as Xie said in an Instagram video that he was against "Zionism" and the "neo-liberal establishment," in response to a question, said he would join Hamas "if I could find a way."
Later in the video, Xie allegedly displayed a handgun and said he was going to go to a pro-Israel march and "I'm going to shoot everybody."
"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," Xie said in the video, according to the court papers.
According to the account of a person who interacted online with Xie and later contacted the FBI, Xie said the attack would be at an Al-Quds Day parade, an annual pro-Palestinian event held around the final Friday of Ramadan.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce Malliet said in court on Wednesday that authorities believe one of the events is to be held in New York's Times Square on May 31.
After an April trip to Trump Tower in which he was observed by FBI surveillance, according to the complaint, Xie posted photos of the building along with his intent to bomb it.
"Okay so I went to NYC today and passed by Trump Tower, then I started thinking about bombing it and I was imagining that the explosion would kill Trump and then I started laughing hysterically," he wrote according to the complaint. "I forgot to visit the Israeli embassy in NYC ... I want to bomb this place along with trump tower [sic]," Xie said in a separate post detailed in the court documents.
