Funniest scam fundraiser I've seen: "Help a trans woman leave Gaza" ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Friday, August 29, 2025

Funniest scam fundraiser I've seen: "Help a trans woman leave Gaza"

The crowdfunding site GiveButter has this story:

Sahar is a Palestinian trans woman currently displaced in Gaza. Since losing her home to IOF aggression, Sahar has been living in a tent with her 6 sisters, hardly able to afford basic survival needs.

With the brutality continuing to escalate, Sahar has made the difficult but critical decision to attempt to leave the Gaza strip. To do so, she turning to the international community for support.

Sahar is seeking to raise $35,000 to finance her move out of Gaza and into safety.

Read below to hear from Sahar in her own words,

“I am not used to asking for help and this is the first time in my life that I ask for help in order to save my life and the lives of my family. This war touches the feelings of people around the world. It is a very difficult decision to leave Gaza, but we have no other choice to save our lives and save the lives of our children … It's an expensive process, but together we can achieve it.

The war on Gaza has injured us [with] psychological trauma and extreme terror as a result of the continuous bombing, the killing of children, the destruction of homes and displacement. The Gaza Strip has become foodless, and the water is polluted. The occupation destroyed all health and industrial facilities in the Gaza Strip, making it uninhabitable.

I am alive, but my friends and neighbors who were killed in Gaza are still under the rubble of their homes. No one can save them because of the continuous bombing of the occupation of houses in Gaza. With the destruction of all of us, we have no choice but to leave Gaza, our lives are precious to us… [we] in Gaza are not just numbers. We are human beings who love life and want to live freely, peacefully and safely.”

Read Sahar’s story today + share it widely to help her gain the support she needs. In closing, Sahar writes:

“Thank you for your sympathy, generosity and solidarity with us. We can make a difference and help my family find the safety and protection they urgently need. Together we can achieve the goal.”

This is such an obvious scam that I cannot believe that GiveButter allow this.

For starters, there are no trans women in Gaza. How would it work? Some guy has an operation in Gaza? Or he leaves Gaza to a Western country for surgery, and then returns as a woman and the family is fine with this and the neighbors don't care?

The person's life expectancy after the surgery would be measured in hours.

Secondly, no one is leaving Gaza no matter how much money they have. Egypt is not taking anyone butt medical cases (and Israel has to approve.) So the appeal to raise money to leave Gaza is obviously a lie.

Thirdly, "Sahar"'s letter was not the voice of a Gazan. It is an anti-Israel activist pretending to channel a Gazan."It's an expensive process, but together we can achieve it."? Those are the words of a fundraiser, not a Gazan.

So far idiots have donated at least $4,600 for this scam.

(h/t Rabbi Poupko)