Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Elder of ZiyonDespite the insistence in the declarations, UNRWA is only indispensable to Hamas. Beyond the weapons, rocket launchers, tunnels, dead hostages and server farms found in and underneath their facilities, and octogenarians held captive by their employees, UNRWA has been funnelling significant sums of cash straight from donors to Hamas for years.The money laundering works like this: UNRWA insists on distributing cash aid to Gazans in US dollars, a currency they have to convert to shekels in order to use locally. In the West Bank, Jordan and other countries, UNRWA distributes cash aid in the local currency. Hamas, controlling the only licensed money changers in Gaza, charges Gazans a 10 to 20 per cent commission to convert their dollars to shekels. For more than a decade, over a billion dollars in cash from donations has been diverted into Hamas’s coffers.
I've been talking about NGOs providing cash directly to Gazans as a more efficient mechanism for aid than building an infrastructure of aid distribution, but was not aware that many of them use dollars and then money changers take part of the funds.
A lawsuit filed against UNRWA last month gives more details, as the NYT reported:
According to the complaint, the agency each month would ask JPMorgan Chase to wire millions of dollars to the New York branch of Arab Bank, which has its headquarters in Jordan and is one of the region’s largest financial institutions. The Arab Bank then transmitted the money to its branch in Ramallah, in the West Bank.There, the money earmarked for UNRWA operations in Gaza was transferred to the Bank of Palestine in Ramallah and then withdrawn as U.S. dollars in cash, loaded onto trucks and driven across Israel to Gaza.The suit argues that if UNRWA paid its Gaza staff in shekels, the money could be sent electronically, reducing the need to pay fees to Hamas-affiliated money changers. “Only Hamas benefits from UNRWA’s current cash-handling practices,” according to the complaint.The complaint says the group used the money “to buy via smugglers its weapons, ammunition, explosives, construction materials for the tunnels and rocket-making supplies.”The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the sources they used to establish details of the money trail included U.N. audits of UNRWA’s finances and an U.N. investigation of the agency, as well as press reports that include comments from UNRWA about the movement of money from New York into Gaza and the allocation of those funds.
The idea that Gaza money changers give a cut of all funds to Hamas is quite plausible. Every money changer in the West Bank must be licensed by the Palestine Monetary Authority, and it is likely that those in Gaza cannot work without permission from Hamas.
The same Palestinian Monetary Authority has provided millions in dollars and Jordanian dinars to Gaza, making those funds ripe for skimming.
It looks like both the PMA and NGOs are trying to switch to digital means for money transfer, which should cut out the Hamas money changers. Then again, Hamas has probably already come up with ways to take some of the digital cash as well.
Because using Gaza civilians as pawns is an integral part of Hamas entire strategy.
(h/t Irene)
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