Contents:
Where do Palestinian terror organizations such as Hamas get their funding and material? Here are the main sources:
‘Charities’
Taxes and Zakat
Cryptocurrency
State Sponsors from Iran to USA
Charities
Palestinian leaders view terror and misery as business opportunities. The billionaire leaders of Hamas take a cut of everything smuggled into the country, from all taxes paid to the country, and from charitable donations that come in from overseas charities. And yes, I do mean billionaires. Khaled Mashaal, a founder and former head of Hamas, supposedly pocketed the entire ‘Syrian Fund’ with an estimated value over 1.5 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria continue to suffer from lack of food, water, housing and education. Keeping the Palestinian cause desperate keeps the aid from private and international sources flowing into the terrorist billionaires pockets.
In all cases of funds; billions of dollars of aid is poured into a group numbering about 14 million people worldwide (including Western pop star millionaires). A significant chunk of that aid pours into Gaza where less than 2 million people live. This is one of the largest per-capita subsidies of any population in the world, and yet no economic and human development is seen for decades. The main reason for this disconnect is that money sent as aid to Palestinians goes to its grifter leader’s pockets or into terror weapons such as rockets and military tunnels.
These charities are not just in Muslim nations but are also active in the US and Europe. Famously the Holy Land Foundation was active in the US in the 90s and 00s with five members eventually being convicted for their terrorist funding; those individuals found their way to jail a long after millions of dollars had been raised for Hamas. Khaled Mashaal himself was in a US prison for 2 years, without trial, and was released, but without seizing his funds.
Taxes and Zakat
As the government of the Gaza strip, Hamas taxes everything – cars, land, food, wages, etc. This past summer, Hamas raised taxes in the Gaza strip. However, unlike a normal government, most of these taxes do not go to providing for the needs of people in Gaza. Instead, they are directed to the pockets of Hamas leaders or for the purpose of funding terrorism.
In Islam, there is a religious obligation for a person of means to give a percentage of his wealth to specific forms of charity. In Sunni Islam, it is often considered a tax and collected by the State. Besides going to the poor and needy, Zakat can also go ‘to the cause of Allah.’ Not only does Hamas impose Zakat on anybody in Gaza who somehow has means, they also benefit from foreign Zakat as a ‘worthy’ cause. One example: in 2003 a Spanish al-Qaeda financier was found to be raising European funds for Hamas via their Hevron Youth Association.
The collecting of foreign aid in the form of Zakat is a massive business for all Palestinian terrorist groups. Whenever Palestinians conduct terror operations, especially if the terrorists face consequences, a massive push goes out to direct funds towards the terror groups – this has been a successful campaign (also discussed under cryptocurrencies). These appeals, structured for maximum emotional leverage have been effective marketing:
And not just the past; this fundraising continues in the exact present. That website is soliciting Zakat for the Gaza strip with a special link at the top because Hamas slaughtered over 1000 Jews on October 10, 2022. Giving Zakat to the poor and needy is a beautiful thing. Giving Zakat to Hamas and the Gaza Strip it controls is supporting terrorism and killing Jews.
Crypotcurrency
In recent years, cryptocurrency has helped Hamas evade international sanctions and receive illicit financing. This pathway runs heavily through Moscow, and especially the sanctioned Garantex exchange. That exchange is dedicated to those who wish t evade sanctions; a Garantex official once bragged “Treasury’s sanctions against the exchange were just good advertising for its services.” Joining with Russian cybercriminals and oligarchs, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas own crypto wallets where millions of dollars evaded sanctions. Through tracking Hamas crypto wallets, evidence shows that spikes in donations are seen when terrorists make the news for killing Israelis and Jews – such as in 2021 when donations to Hamas surged after a wave of terror against Israel. Killing Jews is literally good for their ‘business.’
However, in the past year Crypto has been less used because Israel is tracking and intercepting these funds at a high rate – confiscating upwards of tens of millions of value in cryptocurrency related to Hamas accounts. This work has continued at a fast pace since the recent outbreak of war with Hamas. It now remains an open question if cryptocurrency routed through financial pariahs like Russia will remain viable funding mechanisms for terror groups with crypto exchanges linked to the West becoming unreliable routes of Hamas financing.
Foreign Patrons
The biggest foreign state patrons of Hamas are Qatar and Iran (Iran also provides significant weapons and logistical support through the IRGC). Russia and a bevy of other Arab nations including Kuwait also donate to the Hamas cause.
Qatar pays a whopping estimated $30 million a month to Gaza. This money both goes directly to needy families and, in the words of their own media: ‘help authorities pay for fuel for electricity and to pay public sector wages.’ However, the ‘authorities’ are the terrorist regime Hamas – public sector wages of Hamas includes terrorist organizers and “security forces." Plenty also likely finds its way to their leaders’ pockets, such as through the exposed scam of having fake workers on their payrolls.
Iran gives an estimated $100 million or more in cash and military aid to Hamas. Iran is a leader in military aid and logistic support for Hamas, as well as straight cash support – with the explicit and stated goal to continue Jihadist conflict, as opposed to peace.
Turkey does not directly finance Hamas the way Iran does, however, a Turkish bank has been found responsible for knowingly banking Hamas fundraisers and providing banking service to sanctioned terrorist institutions. President Erdogan has met with top Hamas leaders on numerous occasions:
While the government of Turkey does not send as much money to Hamas as Iran and Qatar, they are nonetheless, a clear supporter and a major vector of Hamas financing and financial services.
In addition to Turkey, Russia has also been providing support to Hamas. Hamas has even thanked Russia for all of its support. on Russia’s own propaganda network, Russia Today: “Russia is happy that America is getting embroiled in Palestine. It alleviates the pressure on the Russian’s in Ukraine. One war eases the pressure in another war. So we are not alone on the battlefield.” On top of that, former Ukrainian President Poroshenko has stated the Wagner trainers sent to Syria were transferred, at some point, to training Hamas.
North Korean weapons wound up in the hands of Hamas and fired at Israelis on October 7. North Korea themselves could not easily transport the weapons and may not have directly worked with Hamas. Clear ties with North Korean allies of Iran and Russia, allow for weapons from the Hermit Kingdom to make their way to Gaza.
Mostly through Zakat branded funds mentioned earlier, significant funds have poured into Palestinian causes, including Hamas-linked groups from Kuwait , Egypt (who plays a complex role as Hamas’ mediator but also refuses to allow Gazan refugees into Egypt), and others.
Saudi Arabia is a fascinating case. Historically it allowed Hamas fundraising to occur on its territory while the government did not provide formal support. However in 2019, Saudi started aggressively pursuing Hamas agents in its territories with arrests and asset freezes, widely shutting down their funding. Simultaneously, Saudi internet activists and bloggers started sending statements and tweets of support for Israel. During this time, Saudi actors explicitly stated they disliked Hamas ties to the Iranian regime. The King has always been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, however Prince Mohammed bin Salman has appeared supportive of normalizing ties with Israel. While the cleric at Mecca stated support of their Palestinian brothers the Friday after attacks, the monarchy has come out with some incredibly hardline anti-Hamas statements:
This brings me to the US and Israel. Yes, the enemies of Hamas have also been funding the terrorist group. Reminiscent of the ancient adage “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” by allowing, supporting, and sometimes giving large amounts of ‘humanitarian’ and ‘development’ aid, both Israel and the United States have unwittingly helped fund Hamas.
Like the Qatari ‘humanitarian’ funding, all cash and goods that enter the Gaza strip are a target for Hamas appropriation.
Increases in humanitarian aid? Hamas siphons it off.
A major increase in Israeli work permits? Hamas raises taxes and gets more money while the workers stay poor. The work permits also created a security problem as Gazan workers in Israel assisted in terror attacks, including October 7.
Send pipes to alleviate the clean water problems in Gaza? Hamas publishes videos of turning them into rockets.
Let's be incredibly clear. Broadly sending any kind of aid to the Gaza strip is explicitly helping Hamas. The lovely website of the current US administration uses all the key buzzwords of international development: localization, listening to local partners, and impacting those most in need. What it doesn’t say? All local groups are explicitly under Hamas control, and so they are literally listening to terrorist supporters about what they would like to accomplish. It doesn’t say that all economic development will be pilfered by Hamas for a mixture of grift and terrorism. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Allowing resources into an area managed and run by terrorists will always be supportive of said same terrorists. And it is a lesson that our government is sadly not learning
The way forward is to not work with terrorists. Period. End of Story. The ‘innocent’ civilians who educate their children at schools, which teach martyrdom and house ammo depots for terrorism, need to remove the terrorists from their rule – or they are complicit.
Article by
Editing by @j_prettybuds on twitter