BBC documentary reveals Hamas’s financial empire

[BeatMan]

A documentary has described the “vast amounts of money” kept outside Gaza that Hamas uses to fund its terror operations.

The BBC Panorama episode presented by journalist John Ware aired on Monday evening and detailed part of Hamas’s financial operation, which includes using funding from international aid agencies to pay for basic government costs so that other streams of income could be used to pay for its military.

While billions arrived from international aid agencies, the United Nations, and the European Union, to spend on humanitarian aid, Hamas could spend the money from other sources – such as taxes and Qatari and Iranian funding – on military operations.

BBC documentary reveals Hamas’s financial empire - The Jewish Chronicle (thejc.com)

 

[ll74]

So they didn't use American dollars to fund their terrorist activities?

Neat.

 

[STrent]

A documentary has described the “vast amounts of money” kept outside Gaza that Hamas uses to fund its terror operations.

The BBC Panorama episode presented by journalist John Ware aired on Monday evening and detailed part of Hamas’s financial operation, which includes using funding from international aid agencies to pay for basic government costs so that other streams of income could be used to pay for its military.

While billions arrived from international aid agencies, the United Nations, and the European Union, to spend on humanitarian aid, Hamas could spend the money from other sources – such as taxes and Qatari and Iranian funding – on military operations.

BBC documentary reveals Hamas’s financial empire - The Jewish Chronicle (thejc.com)

Have you actually watched it though?

Because I did and it was thought provoking insomuch that the only evidence of their financial activities that was actually able to be looked at were excel spreadsheets provided by Israel.

United States intelligence is quoted in the program as saying the evidence is unreliable.

The astonishing takeaway is the role of Israel in actively financing Hamas for some time in the 2000s to now. That was mind boggling.

So they didn't use American dollars to fund their terrorist activities?

Neat.

This is actually the crux of it: nobody outside of Hamas is actually entirely certain how they’ve fully funded their activities. You can make educated guesses by following some strands of the money through certain countries (turkey/Qatar/etc) but the program confirms the evidence isn’t great.

That’s the big take away from the program, Hamas has been quite clever in terms of money laundering, investment in different states, and similar, and the use of third parties. Please don’t take that as admiration: I loath them as much as the next man.

But one of the remarkable quotations was that from an Israeli historian who pointed out that it followed a lot of the practice of the United States…and Israel. Who also, reminder, funded them partially. Netanyahu actually confirmed this on several occasions: https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/