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talkpoliticsHamas has shocked the world in early October with the mass murder of hundreds of Israelis. Despite its brutal terrorist attack, however, the radical Islamist Palestinian movement can count on influential supporters and lucrative investments in the Middle East. Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Israel, the UK, Canada and a ton of other countries.
When "Hamas" attacked Israel on October 7, even a part of Germany rejoiced. Enthusiastic Muslims distributed candy in the streets of Berlin. And in Hamburg, people rejoiced in the killing of hundreds of women, children and entire families, as could be seen from TV reports.
So it's no surprise that Hamas can still rely on donations from Muslims around the world to finance its terrorist activities, including in other Western countries: for example the largest Islamic charity in the US, the Holy Land Foundation, had been transferring millions of dollars into the Palestinian Territories from the 80s until it was banned in 2001. The money was supposedly intended to support social institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but it was under the control of Hamas. Because of this, money often ended up in the families of suicide bombers as a perfidious form of bereavement.
The US State Department has said Hamas has been raising funds in other Gulf states and receiving donations from Palestinians, other expatriates and its own charities. Today much of its budget comes from taxes on businesses, as well as from countries including Iran and Qatar, or from other such charities.
Overall, it would seem the volume of donations to Hamas has likely declined in recent years, at least officially. Not only in the US, but also in Canada and other Western countries, many supposed charities were banned after the attacks of 9-11 and were classified as terrorist organizations because of their support for Hamas. Nevertheless, the financial resources of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization have probably increased, not decreased, since then.
The independent non-governmental portal Counter Extremism Project attributes the new financial power primarily to Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Palestinian enclave. Just one year later, the terrorist organization came to power. In just 6 years, Hamas's budget is said to have grown from $40 million to $540 million a year. In 2013, it amounted to 700 million dollars.
According to the Times of Israel, Hamas has invested at least 100 million dollars a year in its military potential. Almost half of this amount was funneled into the vast tunnel system under the Gaza Strip. The underground network is used to covertly move fighters and weapons into the Gaza Strip. However, it's also a lifeline and an important source of money: Hamas collects taxes on the delivery of food and other important goods. In the heyday of underground supplies, the group is said to have earned about $500m a year in this way alone - at least until 2013, when Egypt said it had destroyed 90% of the tunnel system. It is not clear what part of it still exists today.
The same applies to the investment portfolio of "Hamas". According to the US Treasury Department, despite the sanctions, the terrorist organization has invested more than 500 million dollars in foreign companies through a network of phantom companies. Citing an Iranian diplomat, Reuters reported in 2021 that Hamas controls about 40 companies in Algeria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the UAE.
It is also known that a few years ago, Hamas activated a cryptocurrency exchange. The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, sometimes explained in several languages on its website how to store bitcoins. Terrorists and other criminals use this method to disguise cash flows and income and to avoid sanctions. In 2021, the US was able to seize one million dollars from the Qassam Brigades in various cryptocurrencies.
While the amount is not impressive, it's still not one that can be ignored. After all, the really big donors to Hamas are foreign partner countries. As summarized by the Counter Extremism Project, in 2011 the Turkish government pledged $300 million to Hamas. The money was intended to fill the holes in the civilian budget of the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the Turkish government didn't want to pay the money directly to Hamas, but to non-governmental organizations. It was not clear at the time whether this would be a one-time or annual payment.
Just one year later, Qatar also announced a $400 million payment. The emirate is one of the biggest supporters of Hamas. Since 2012, it has housed the permanent political bureau of the radical Palestinian Islamic organization. When Hamas was no longer able to pay the salaries of 44,000 public sector employees in 2014, the emirate intervened again. It's said to have already provided a total of US$1.5 billion. However, like Turkey, Qatar stresses that the money is not used for terrorism, but for humanitarian purposes, such as the supply of electricity. In a similar way, Germany justifies its aid payments to the Palestinian territories.
In the case of Qatar, however, it's not always clear where the money actually ends up: The emirate has been blamed for the fact that the money did end up in the military wing of Hamas through a bank and a charity. A second radical militia in the Palestinian territories, Islamic Jihad, is also said to have benefited from them. However, there is no evidence for this.
The situation with Saudi Arabia is different: When the second intifada began in September 2000, the kingdom transferred several million dollars to the families of the suicide bombers through the Jordanian Arab Bank to support the Palestinian uprising against Israel. The US government was able to prove these payments. In 2014, the bank was found responsible for the bombings in Israel and convicted by a US court of financing terrorism. The bank appealed. 4 years later, the verdict was overturned after the bank reached an out-of-court settlement with 597 victims of Hamas attacks.
For years, Hamas has received the greatest support from Iran. It is alleged that since the 1990s, the regime in Tehran has funded the radical Islamic organization with several hundred million dollars. According to the Countering Extremism Project, at least $70 million a year still comes from Tehran: In 2019, The Times of Israel reported that Iran would increase its payment to $30 million a month if Hamas could provide information on where Israeli missiles are stored.
Unlike other countries, Iranian support is not limited to cash: Tehran provides additional weapons and military training. There was a rift in relations just over 10 years ago when the Syrian civil war broke out: Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement sided with Bashar al-Assad. Hamas, on the other hand, supported the Sunni militias that wanted to overthrow Assad. As a result, Iran temporarily suspended its financial support. Now 10 years later, they stand side by side again, united by their hatred of Israel.
In fact, the size of Hamas's budget is not exactly known, nor have all the ways in which the terrorist group acquires funds been detected, and of course new ways are sought and found in case some of the financial channels dry up. Not so with Israel. Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip will cost up to 200 billion shekels ($51 billion), the Calcalist financial newspaper reported in early November, citing preliminary data from the finance ministry.
The publication pointed out that this estimate, equal to 10% of the Jewish state's GDP, was based on estimates of the war likely lasting between 8-12 months; also assuming that it would be limited to Gaza only, without the full participation of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Iran or Yemen; and that some 350,000 Israelis called up as military reservists will soon return to work.
Calcalist has emphasized that the ministry considers these 200 billion shekels to be an "optimistic" option. In the meantime, Israel's finance ministry has said it doesn't support that data. According to Calcalist, half of the costs will be defense costs, which amount to about 1 billion shekels per day. Another 40-60 billion shekels will come from lost revenue, 17-20 billion for business compensation and 10-20 billion for restitution.
When the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 3 shareholders of the Turkish real estate investment fund Trend GYO in late October, the fund denied providing financial support to any organization. The US announced a second round of sanctions targeting Hamas following its attack on Israel, including targeting a Hamas operative in Iran and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The statement from the US Treasury Department also names the 3 major shareholders of Trend GYO TDGYO, including the chairman and one board member. Indeed, once again the sanctions were late. And catastrophically so. Because the war has inflicted severe wounds on both Israel and the ordinary Palestinians living in Gaza. And certainly imposing sanctions on a handful of people will not bring peace to the Middle East.
Qatar inevitably appears in the complex puzzle of funding Hamas. It is surprising that a gas-rich Gulf state that sponsors Hamas is the main US ally outside of NATO. Inevitably, the question arises as to how the US can see Qatar as its loyal ally, after Qatar's hospitality is enjoyed by the leaders of Hamas, whose only goal for decades has been the destruction of another major US ally outside of NATO, Israel. Perhaps such a policy brings to light the main paradigm of American foreign policy - "The friend of my enemy is my friend". Or maybe another, much older one, "Divide and rule".
When "Hamas" attacked Israel on October 7, even a part of Germany rejoiced. Enthusiastic Muslims distributed candy in the streets of Berlin. And in Hamburg, people rejoiced in the killing of hundreds of women, children and entire families, as could be seen from TV reports.
So it's no surprise that Hamas can still rely on donations from Muslims around the world to finance its terrorist activities, including in other Western countries: for example the largest Islamic charity in the US, the Holy Land Foundation, had been transferring millions of dollars into the Palestinian Territories from the 80s until it was banned in 2001. The money was supposedly intended to support social institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but it was under the control of Hamas. Because of this, money often ended up in the families of suicide bombers as a perfidious form of bereavement.
The US State Department has said Hamas has been raising funds in other Gulf states and receiving donations from Palestinians, other expatriates and its own charities. Today much of its budget comes from taxes on businesses, as well as from countries including Iran and Qatar, or from other such charities.
Overall, it would seem the volume of donations to Hamas has likely declined in recent years, at least officially. Not only in the US, but also in Canada and other Western countries, many supposed charities were banned after the attacks of 9-11 and were classified as terrorist organizations because of their support for Hamas. Nevertheless, the financial resources of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization have probably increased, not decreased, since then.
The independent non-governmental portal Counter Extremism Project attributes the new financial power primarily to Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Palestinian enclave. Just one year later, the terrorist organization came to power. In just 6 years, Hamas's budget is said to have grown from $40 million to $540 million a year. In 2013, it amounted to 700 million dollars.
According to the Times of Israel, Hamas has invested at least 100 million dollars a year in its military potential. Almost half of this amount was funneled into the vast tunnel system under the Gaza Strip. The underground network is used to covertly move fighters and weapons into the Gaza Strip. However, it's also a lifeline and an important source of money: Hamas collects taxes on the delivery of food and other important goods. In the heyday of underground supplies, the group is said to have earned about $500m a year in this way alone - at least until 2013, when Egypt said it had destroyed 90% of the tunnel system. It is not clear what part of it still exists today.
The same applies to the investment portfolio of "Hamas". According to the US Treasury Department, despite the sanctions, the terrorist organization has invested more than 500 million dollars in foreign companies through a network of phantom companies. Citing an Iranian diplomat, Reuters reported in 2021 that Hamas controls about 40 companies in Algeria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the UAE.
It is also known that a few years ago, Hamas activated a cryptocurrency exchange. The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, sometimes explained in several languages on its website how to store bitcoins. Terrorists and other criminals use this method to disguise cash flows and income and to avoid sanctions. In 2021, the US was able to seize one million dollars from the Qassam Brigades in various cryptocurrencies.
While the amount is not impressive, it's still not one that can be ignored. After all, the really big donors to Hamas are foreign partner countries. As summarized by the Counter Extremism Project, in 2011 the Turkish government pledged $300 million to Hamas. The money was intended to fill the holes in the civilian budget of the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the Turkish government didn't want to pay the money directly to Hamas, but to non-governmental organizations. It was not clear at the time whether this would be a one-time or annual payment.
Just one year later, Qatar also announced a $400 million payment. The emirate is one of the biggest supporters of Hamas. Since 2012, it has housed the permanent political bureau of the radical Palestinian Islamic organization. When Hamas was no longer able to pay the salaries of 44,000 public sector employees in 2014, the emirate intervened again. It's said to have already provided a total of US$1.5 billion. However, like Turkey, Qatar stresses that the money is not used for terrorism, but for humanitarian purposes, such as the supply of electricity. In a similar way, Germany justifies its aid payments to the Palestinian territories.
In the case of Qatar, however, it's not always clear where the money actually ends up: The emirate has been blamed for the fact that the money did end up in the military wing of Hamas through a bank and a charity. A second radical militia in the Palestinian territories, Islamic Jihad, is also said to have benefited from them. However, there is no evidence for this.
The situation with Saudi Arabia is different: When the second intifada began in September 2000, the kingdom transferred several million dollars to the families of the suicide bombers through the Jordanian Arab Bank to support the Palestinian uprising against Israel. The US government was able to prove these payments. In 2014, the bank was found responsible for the bombings in Israel and convicted by a US court of financing terrorism. The bank appealed. 4 years later, the verdict was overturned after the bank reached an out-of-court settlement with 597 victims of Hamas attacks.
For years, Hamas has received the greatest support from Iran. It is alleged that since the 1990s, the regime in Tehran has funded the radical Islamic organization with several hundred million dollars. According to the Countering Extremism Project, at least $70 million a year still comes from Tehran: In 2019, The Times of Israel reported that Iran would increase its payment to $30 million a month if Hamas could provide information on where Israeli missiles are stored.
Unlike other countries, Iranian support is not limited to cash: Tehran provides additional weapons and military training. There was a rift in relations just over 10 years ago when the Syrian civil war broke out: Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement sided with Bashar al-Assad. Hamas, on the other hand, supported the Sunni militias that wanted to overthrow Assad. As a result, Iran temporarily suspended its financial support. Now 10 years later, they stand side by side again, united by their hatred of Israel.
In fact, the size of Hamas's budget is not exactly known, nor have all the ways in which the terrorist group acquires funds been detected, and of course new ways are sought and found in case some of the financial channels dry up. Not so with Israel. Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip will cost up to 200 billion shekels ($51 billion), the Calcalist financial newspaper reported in early November, citing preliminary data from the finance ministry.
The publication pointed out that this estimate, equal to 10% of the Jewish state's GDP, was based on estimates of the war likely lasting between 8-12 months; also assuming that it would be limited to Gaza only, without the full participation of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Iran or Yemen; and that some 350,000 Israelis called up as military reservists will soon return to work.
Calcalist has emphasized that the ministry considers these 200 billion shekels to be an "optimistic" option. In the meantime, Israel's finance ministry has said it doesn't support that data. According to Calcalist, half of the costs will be defense costs, which amount to about 1 billion shekels per day. Another 40-60 billion shekels will come from lost revenue, 17-20 billion for business compensation and 10-20 billion for restitution.
When the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 3 shareholders of the Turkish real estate investment fund Trend GYO in late October, the fund denied providing financial support to any organization. The US announced a second round of sanctions targeting Hamas following its attack on Israel, including targeting a Hamas operative in Iran and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The statement from the US Treasury Department also names the 3 major shareholders of Trend GYO TDGYO, including the chairman and one board member. Indeed, once again the sanctions were late. And catastrophically so. Because the war has inflicted severe wounds on both Israel and the ordinary Palestinians living in Gaza. And certainly imposing sanctions on a handful of people will not bring peace to the Middle East.
Qatar inevitably appears in the complex puzzle of funding Hamas. It is surprising that a gas-rich Gulf state that sponsors Hamas is the main US ally outside of NATO. Inevitably, the question arises as to how the US can see Qatar as its loyal ally, after Qatar's hospitality is enjoyed by the leaders of Hamas, whose only goal for decades has been the destruction of another major US ally outside of NATO, Israel. Perhaps such a policy brings to light the main paradigm of American foreign policy - "The friend of my enemy is my friend". Or maybe another, much older one, "Divide and rule".
