Donors who believed they were feeding desperate families in Gaza instead saw their generosity allegedly funneled into the coffers of Hamas, according to a sweeping federal terrorism case now ensnaring two Louisiana brothers and an accused international fundraising network.
According to RedState, Abdel and Omar Adhami were arrested in September and now face federal charges for allegedly turning online charity into a covert pipeline for a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Both brothers are charged with providing material support and committing wire fraud, while Abdel faces an additional money laundering count tied to a series of digital transfers that investigators say were anything but humanitarian.
The FBI contends Abdel moved $81,272 through two PayPal accounts and another $2,000 via Western Union, routing funds to a man they identify as the real point of contact: Saleem Alzaq. Alzaq, now under federal indictment in New York, allegedly fronted a campaign that claimed to be raising money for food and winter supplies for Palestinians, a pitch that tugged at heartstrings across the globe.
Touching stuff. More than $1.7 million poured in, prosecutors say, including at least $626,000 from American donors who believed they were helping civilians, not underwriting jihad. The Adhami brothers transfers were only a fraction of that total, but federal authorities argue the pattern is clear: Prosecutors say none of it was going where donors thought.
For months, anyone who questioned Gaza fundraising drives was smeared as heartless or bigoted, as if skepticism itself were the problem. This case now stands as a stark reminder of why scrutiny matters, especially when money can so easily be diverted from charity to terror under the cover of emotional appeals.
Behind the public pleas, private messages allegedly told a very different story. In one WhatsApp exchange, Abdel is said to have instructed Omar on how to talk about money intended for fighters, urging him to swap out explicit terms for code words.
He allegedly pushed his brother to sanitize their language, suggesting that Bread would serve as a stand-in for the real purpose of the funds. Dont mention anything by its name on WhatsApp, and use the word bread instead.
Bread surfaced repeatedly in the alleged discussions of Hamas financing, as did the Green, prosecutors say, a euphemism that left little doubt about the intended recipients. Alzaq allegedly told an undercover officer he could move money directly to Hamas, but warned that documenting delivery would be nearly impossible because operatives avoided any form of identification.
The message was simple: send the cash, but do not expect a paper trail. An undercover NYPD employee first contacted Alzaq in November 2025, posing as a donor and probing how the money would be handled.
Alzaq allegedly steered the supposed donor to Abdel, who offered to run the contribution through his stores credit card system as if it were a routine purchase. He would then quietly transfer the funds onward, a method designed to make the transaction look like ordinary commerce rather than terror financing.
Abdel allegedly followed that proposal with a soothing promise, captured in the affidavit. But do not worry. Everything is legal, God willing.
The supposed donor, of course, was a cop, and Abdel now faces three federal charges for a scheme that prosecutors say was built on deception from the start. Alzaqs indictment reaches back to October 7, 2023, alleging that he launched an appeal for injured Gazans that very day while simultaneously posting propaganda celebrating Hamass murderous attack on Israel.
By the following October, he allegedly instructed PayPal donors to scrub any references to Hamas or Free Palestine from their notes to avoid triggering account closures. The pattern mirrors a broader trend: weaponizing Western payment platforms and charitable instincts while hiding behind sanitized language and carefully curated narratives.
The Louisiana brothers are not outliers in this model. In July, British authorities arrested Mohammad Yousef Hasna, a Turkey-based charity director whom the Justice Department accuses of channeling money and supplies to Hamas leaders under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Same model, different continent. It keeps appearing in these prosecutions because it keeps working. Abdels alleged offer to the undercover officer charge a donation as a store purchase, then quietly reroute the funds distills the entire operation into a single maneuver: donors were told they were feeding people, the money allegedly went to Hamas, and the intermediaries worked diligently to ensure no one could tell the difference, underscoring why President Trumps tougher stance on terror financing remains not only justified but necessary.
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