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"Real banks" also will block transactions with the "wrong" keywords in them. They are literally required to do this.

For example:

Chase Bank blocks California man’s online payment over service dog’s ‘terrorist’ name

https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/chase-bank-blocks-onl...

These stories are really common. Usually a phone call fixes it.

The real bank that I use in the UK cares about what you put in the reference field. Putting something like "AK47" as the reference quickly results in a phone call from them telling you to not do that.

Would it be a problem for a US bank?

Yeah because terrorists will definitely not lie when they open a bank account!

Also…how would KYC stop a terrorist from abusing your mothers bank account to transfer money?

This is why you need KYC and also transaction screening (and also X, Y and Z).

Yes, but transaction screening should rely on information about the accounts involved, and not the descriptions on the payments. Because those mean nothing.