Muslim man charged with terrorism, supporting Hamas

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Another Muslim man has been charged with terrorism tied to a range of alleged crimes associated with claiming to raise support for charities and instead using the money to fund the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas.

Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, residing in San Diego, California, appeared before a federal judge in the Southern District of California Wednesday after being arrested the day before. He is charged with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements as part of a scheme to divert funds raised through purported charitable campaigns to Hamas, according to an unsealed complaint. The case is being prosecuted in New York.

“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant exploited the barbaric acts of terror perpetrated on October 7, 2023, to attract donors to his fraudulent ‘humanitarian’ causes,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said. “He allegedly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through this scheme, which he then funneled to Hamas to help finance that group’s terror and violence and to line his own pockets.”

“From within the United States, Reda Sabassi is alleged to have solicited and diverted funds to the known foreign terrorist organization, Hamas, which committed the brutal October 7, 2023, massacre” in Israel, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York said. “Hamas promotes attacks against the U.S. and has murdered dozens of Americans through acts of terror.” His arrest “demonstrates our whole-of-government commitment to prosecute those who provide financial support to a malign terrorist regime that hates America.”

Sabassi is listed as the chief executive officer, chief financial officer and secretary of Ikram, an Arab Charity Foundation headquartered in Sacramento. The organization was founded in 2022 and listed as a nonprofit corporation with the California Secretary of State’s Office.

His arrest comes as the greatest number of antisemitic incidents occurring in the U.S. are in New York and California, with incidents increasing exponentially after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. Last year was the most violent year on record for Jews in the United States, The Center Square reported. Perpetrators cite Hamas as inspiration.

A designated terrorist organization by the Department of State in 1997, Hamas holds a majority in the Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, run by the Palestinian Legislative Council, has been controlled by a Hamas majority since 2006.

The PA created a prisoner and martyr fund in support of terrorism. For nearly 30 years, billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money were sent to Gaza and the West Bank under the guise of humanitarian aid but were instead used to support Hamas, a lawsuit filed in Texas two years ago argues, The Center Square reported.

President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others have taken measures to prevent U.S. funds from inadvertently supporting Islamic terrorism overseas, as well as strengthening sanctions and punishments for those who support it in the U.S.

Over the last four decades, Hamas has claimed responsibility for numerous large-scale terror attacks resulting in Americans’ deaths. Its stated mission is to create an Islamic Palestinian state by eliminating the state of Israel through violent holy war, or jihad.

Founded in 1987, the preamble of Hamas’ 1988 Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.’”

Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi has publicly supported Hamas online and has raised money for Hamas using online donation platforms, the charges allege. Examples include him creating an hour-long propaganda video of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, and posting it in several social media posts, according to the charges.

Since at least 2022, he’s also used social media accounts, crowdfunding websites, Ikram and Gaza Now to solicit donations worldwide, including from New York residents and nationwide, the charges allege. Sabassi claimed in fundraising appeals that he was raising money to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians but was “actually raising funds for Hamas,” the charges alleged. He also joked about naming the fundraiser after Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, investigators say.

These online fundraising campaigns brought in roughly $600,000 in a two-month-period in early 2024. He then sent roughly $116,000 to a Hamas member, according to the charges. He also attempted to convert approximately $382,000 of the cash he raised into cryptocurrency to send to Hamas through Gaza Now, according to the charges.

If convicted of all charges he faces up to 85 years in prison.

The case is the latest among others where crypo is being used to fund terrorism. Last year in the District of Columbia, two major terrorism cases involve charges brought against alleged funding of Hamas. In one case, cryptocurrency valued at roughly $200,000 was seized after authorities learned its intended purpose was to support Hamas.

The funds were traced from fundraising addresses purportedly controlled by Hamas to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual currency, authorities allege. Seized accounts were registered in the names of Palestinians living in Turkey and elsewhere, the DOJ said.

In another case, roughly $2 million in digital currency was seized allegedly connected to a Gaza-based money transfer business involved in financially supporting Hamas.