Florida man who called to ‘slaughter, behead’ Jews could face life in prison for funding Hamas

Florida beauty store owner charged with funneling tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas.

By World Israel News Staff

A Florida businessman who owns a chain of beauty supply stores has been indicted on federal terrorism-financing charges for sending more than $46,000 through a network prosecutors say funneled money to Hamas, while privately calling for Jews to be slaughtered and beheaded.

Raed Yousef, 56, of Lutz, Florida, faces 19 federal felony counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, money laundering and passport-related offenses.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed pending trial after a federal magistrate judge determined last week that he presented a flight risk and potentially a danger to the community.

Federal prosecutors allege that Yousef joined a fundraising network that emerged shortly after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel and included an unnamed organization in France, a Hamas member in Gaza and another participant in Louisiana.

The French organization publicly presented itself as a humanitarian group helping people in Africa and the Middle East, according to court filings.

Prosecutors contend, however, that money collected through the network was routed to Hamas, including through cryptocurrency accounts controlled by the terrorist organization.

The French group allegedly transferred more than $330,000 to Hamas-linked cryptocurrency accounts, while Yousef personally sent more than $46,000 through the network.

Investigators say members of the group communicated through WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Snapchat and other services and took steps to conceal the alleged purpose of the transactions.

Hamas was referred to in conversations using code words including “green,” “bread” and “the bread people,” while participants allegedly discussed deleting messages and removing communications applications before traveling.

In one January 2024 conversation cited by prosecutors, Yousef allegedly advised an associate on what potential contributors should be told about the destination of donations.

“Just tell them these are needy people in Gaza,” he said, according to court records.

Prosecutors contend that other messages indicated Yousef understood the distinction between humanitarian donations and funds intended for Hamas members.

In one exchange, he allegedly referred to money meant for the “true men,” rather than civilians and needy families.

The indictment also cites a series of messages in which Yousef allegedly advocated extreme violence against Jews.

In April 2024, Yousef allegedly wrote that Jews were “brutal” and called for divine revenge against them. Months later, he went considerably further.

“People need to be slaughtered,” he allegedly told an associate.

“To behead them and display their heads,” Yousef continued, according to the indictment, describing the display of severed heads as a means of frightening Israelis into leaving.

Prosecutors have cited the messages as evidence that Yousef’s financial transfers were not simply charitable donations made without knowledge of their ultimate destination.

His defense has disputed that interpretation.

Yousef’s attorneys maintain that he believed his money was going toward humanitarian assistance for Arabs in Gaza and argue that prosecutors have improperly treated inflammatory political speech as evidence of criminal intent.

His lawyers have characterized the amount allegedly transferred to an improper recipient as relatively small compared with his overall charitable giving.

The defense has also emphasized Yousef’s longstanding ties to the United States.

Born in Kuwait and raised partly in Jordan, he moved to the US as a teenager and became a naturalized American citizen in 1991.

He owns six beauty supply stores in central Florida, according to his attorneys.

Prosecutors have raised separate concerns about his foreign travel and identity documents.

Court filings say Yousef possesses a Jordanian passport under the name Raed Mohamed Salim Suleiman and accuse him of making false statements in connection with a US passport application.

Authorities have also alleged that he falsely denied recent travel to Judea and Samaria shortly before his arrest.

A search of Yousef’s residence uncovered approximately $75,000 in cash, at least six firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to the government’s detention filings.

Investigators also found material connected to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Texas-based charity whose leaders were convicted in one of the largest terrorism-financing prosecutions in US history.

The organization was shut down by the federal government after authorities accused it of serving as a fundraising vehicle for Hamas.

The discovery included what prosecutors described as a composition notebook or pamphlet bearing the Holy Land Foundation name.

During a detention hearing on September 23, US Magistrate Judge Natalie Hirt Adams ordered Yousef to remain behind bars while the case proceeds, finding that he posed a risk of flight and could present a danger if released.

He had been arrested the previous week following the return of the federal indictment and pleaded not guilty at his September 18 arraignment in Tampa.

The case comes amid an intensifying federal effort to target suspected Hamas financing networks operating through purported humanitarian organizations, crowdfunding services and cryptocurrency.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department announced that authorities had seized more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency allegedly destined for Hamas and had taken control of internet infrastructure used by the terrorist organization for fundraising and recruitment.

Several other federal cases filed over the past year have similarly alleged that fundraising campaigns advertised as humanitarian relief for Palestinians were instead used, at least in part, to transfer money to members of Hamas or other Gaza terrorist organizations.

Yousef faces a potential sentence of up to life imprisonment if convicted of the most serious charges.