Bloodlust money
“The majority of funding for Hamas and the PIJ was found to have originated in Iran, with approximately $100 million annually for Hamas and tens of millions for the PIJ.
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“The majority of funding for Hamas and the PIJ was found to have originated in Iran, with approximately $100 million annually for Hamas and tens of millions for the PIJ.
Local security officials can learn a lot from Israel, which uncovered the huge financing that flowed to the terror group Hamas, which is identical to the tactics of terror organizations hiding behind legal fronts in this country.
The US Treasury recently sanctioned associates of Hamas, exposing a list of organizations that operated under the guise of charity and education, yet were affiliated with Hamas.
Israel recruited tech-savvy volunteers — and there are several in this country — to bust the terror financing network.
A Times of Israel report detailed the work of a group of tech wizards who contributed to the response in the aftermath of the 7 October attack.
In demolishing Hamas, Israel seeks to cut off its financial lifeblood, for which the work of the young cyber snoops became invaluable as they traced the sources of billions of dollars that flowed into the anarchist group, making it probably the richest terror racket in the world.
The young ones employed their technological prowess to aid the military and government in the war against Hamas.
Among the technology employed was Artificial Intelligence-powered facial recognition software, to locate some 240 individuals taken captive by the terrorists and to scrutinize the financial channels through which Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, received funds for their terrorist activities.
The volunteers were able to pinpoint the flow of money from various sources to Hamas and the PIJ.
Employing a range of programs, they uncovered entities that masked their fund-raising activities under the banners of charity and education but ultimately bolstered the covert activities of Hamas and the PIJ.
The US sanctions particularly laid bare the Iranian government's role in providing Hamas with financial, logistical, and operational backing.
The list of targets for sanctions included a Hamas representative in Iran and officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force accused of training Hamas operatives.
The training was found to have happened just weeks before the devastating terror assault against Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered.
Among other entities sanctioned by the US was Iran's "Bonyad Shahid" or "Martyrs Foundation," which, according to the US Treasury, channels millions of dollars through the Gaza-based Al-Ansar Charity Association, purportedly for the families of terrorists linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The majority of funding for Hamas and the PIJ was found to have originated in Iran, with approximately $100 million annually for Hamas and tens of millions for the PIJ.
Hamas has also received over $1.5 billion from Qatar in the past decade. The funds were ostensibly allocated for public worker salaries, fuel procurement, and assistance to impoverished families, but portions were diverted to terror operations.
The technology warriors then succeeded in identifying private international money exchange companies that have been the main channel used for transferring funding for terror activities, some of them based in Turkey.
The list of these companies, the report revealed, includes the Shuoman Exchange Company, LLC, CGS Choman Global Services, Money Changer Hamdi Zahr Aldin, Muhammad Khair Hassan Al Kattan & Partner Exchange Company Halil Musa, Burgan Exchange, Tamer Barud, the Turkish representative of the Geneva Exchange in Gaza, the El Kerim Delvated Odeme in Turkey, the Huseyin Misir Abubeki Exchange and the Abedal Eazzak Exchange.
The report submitted that the civilian efforts, amid the ongoing conflict, underscore the crucial role citizens and the private sector play, even in domains traditionally regarded as exclusively the government's.
While the military domain remains predominantly under state control, thanks to cyber tools and capabilities, investigations and intelligence gathering have transcended bureaucratic confines, according to the report.
Among the lessons learned during the conflict, which is approaching its second month, is the indispensable role that civilian support provides in resolving a crisis.
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