A New York girl who allegedly led a radical anti-Israel group and posed with hand grenades in entrance of a Hamas flag has been arrested and charged with making an attempt to supply materials assist to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated overseas terrorist group.
Catherine Beth Washburn, 37, of Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, made her preliminary court docket look Tuesday earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace decide and was ordered detained pending trial. She faces as much as twenty years in federal jail and a advantageous of as much as $250,000 if convicted.
In response to the felony criticism, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Job Pressure recovered digital communications between Washburn and a person in Gaza who recognized himself as a PIJ fighter and claimed to have taken half in assaults in opposition to Israel, together with the October 7, 2023, bloodbath. In a single message, Washburn allegedly wrote that she wished “day-after-day had been October seventh,” including that if she lived in Gaza she would combat alongside the fear group. She additionally allegedly stated she hated Jewish individuals “very a lot” and wished Israel “would disappear,” and that she felt excited each time she noticed information of the killing of an Israeli soldier.
Monetary data cited within the criticism present Washburn made roughly eighty cryptocurrency transactions, totaling roughly $30,116, to an account utilized by the PIJ fighter. In a November 2025 message, she allegedly joked in regards to the danger of prosecution, writing that based mostly on her previous fundraising and posting she was “gonna get put away for a number of life occasions,” adopted by a laughing emoji.
Prosecutors say Washburn led the Direct Motion Motion for Palestinian Liberation, an extremist group shaped after the October 7 assaults that rejects peaceable protest in favor of what it calls direct motion, together with property destruction and sabotage in opposition to targets it associates with Israel.
Assistant Lawyer Normal for Nationwide Safety John A. Eisenberg stated Washburn repeatedly voiced assist for violence in opposition to Israeli civilians and tried to funnel cryptocurrency to a overseas terrorist group, including that those that help such teams will likely be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the legislation. U.S. Lawyer Michael DiGiacomo for the Western District of New York stated Washburn’s alleged efforts, fueled by what he described as her self-professed hatred of Israel and Jewish individuals, had been in the end stopped.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Western District of New York alongside the Justice Division’s Nationwide Safety Division. A criticism is merely an allegation, and Washburn is presumed harmless until and till confirmed responsible.
