In Israel, there is a complete lack of understanding regarding how Hamas funds itself.I still hear nonsense like "Iran provides 70% of Hamas' funding" (as Yaron Blum claimed two days ago on Oded Ben Ami's show) or people who believe that money is smuggled into Gaza via Rafah and accumulates there. It's the opposite: Hamas is looking for ways to get the significant sums it earns inside Gaza out of Gaza.Just last week, in several interviews and articles, I mentioned how, due to a unique coincidence, we discovered that 10% of the employees of the WCK organization are Hamas operatives.
An organization introduced into Gaza just this year by Israel already employs 62 Hamas members (out of 584 workers hired this year alone).From my past experience, I can assure you that additional significant percentages of its employees are relatives of Hamas members.Hamas operates like a mafia and a clan-based enterprise: one brother is in the military wing, another in the police force, they ensure the sister works for UNRWA, a non-combat-profile cousin becomes a driver for an aid organization, an uncle gets a government position, another cousin is a "journalist" for Al Jazeera, and the grandmother is added to the list of welfare recipients.What people here still fail to grasp is how much the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to fund Hamas. This has been going on for years.Even when there were times of open conflict between them and Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) stopped salaries (which led to the Qatari suitcases of cash), the PA still indirectly funded Hamas.Here’s an example of European money being funneled not even to the PA but to a semi-governmental urban development fund.It’s only $3 million (total grant is $9 million for this "Green Gaza" project), but there are many more similar projects. Hundreds of them.This fund issued a tender for (I’m not joking) “consultation services—social activities for a green Gaza and climate change prevention.”What are the chances that Hamas' regime in Gaza will manage to place its members or their relatives among the beneficiaries of this Belgian grant?
In my opinion: 100%. Long live the "green" climate in Gaza.Thank you to the Belgian government for your contribution. Multiply this story by 200, and you'll see how Hamas is funded.Not just by Iran (in extreme cases, Iran provides 5%-10% of Hamas' funding).The vast majority of Hamas' funding comes from its ability to funnel money that the world sends to the PA (and other Gaza charitable causes) and Gaza for its own purposes.
Indeed, there have been plenty of Western initiatives pouring money into Gaza, and no one bats an eye.
NGO Monitor examined 17 grants from European NGOs in 2022 that totaled €18.7 million.
A glance at the EU External Action webpage shows other initiatives that include Gaza, like the some €60 million to the Palestinian Cash Transfer Programme that gives cash assistance to some 108,000 poor families in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, the cash doubtless goes primarily to families with connections to Hamas.
The European Joint Strategy in support of Palestine 2021-2024 mentions lots of things about Gaza, but not a word about avoiding Hamas from taking the funding.
Their report on previous initiatives shows that money goes into Gaza, but they have no metrics on whether the money is doing what it is supposed to do. So for example the EU pours money into combatting gender based violence, but it says, data "was not collected in a systematic way and data from Gaza is not available." So that is money that went down the drain - and to Hamas.
They also throw money in Gaza at "climate change policy" and in helping Palestinian youth including Gaza. They have programs to promote democracy in Gaza, to improve the judicial system, to unify the administrative systems of the West Bank and Gaza, to improve local governance - the list goes on and on, and it is obvious to all that the EU was throwing money Gaza for programs that have zero chance of making any difference under Hamas rule.
Does anyone seriously think that money going to combat climate change in Gaza goes anywhere but to line Hamas' pockets?
I cannot verify Ofer's claims that the vast majority of Hamas' funding comes from these Western projects. The IDF probably could, now that they have access to Hamas computers in Gaza. But now that we know how Hamas views all Gaza civilians as having no purpose except to die to protect terrorists, there is no doubt that the bulk of funding meant to help Gaza governance and health and welfare ended up going to Hamas or Hamas-linked families.
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