Netanyahu looked other way as Hamas amassed wealth, NYT reports

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The US and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned a blind eye as Hamas accumulated massive wealth, according to the NYT report on Saturday.

Udi Levy, a former chief of Mossad’s economic warfare division said, “Everyone is talking about failures of intelligence on October 7, but no one is talking about the failure to stop the money.”

Israeli security officials recovered information from senior Hamas officials that proved the terrorist group had mining, chicken farming, and road-building operations in Sudan, two skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, a property development company in Algeria, and a Turkish real-estate firm, according to the report.

With the total value of the operations in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Israel’s security forces could have used these plans to find ways to block money to the terrorist group and sabotage its plans in 2018.

However, neither Israel nor the US took any action to sanction Hamas until 2022, when the terror group was able to sell its shares and cash in on its wealth.

In addition, according to the NYT, Netanyahu encouraged Qatar to fund Hamas and took the substantial risk of separating its finances from the Palestinian Authority.

A major source of funds for Hamas came from a Turkish company that seemed so legitimate that US and European banks managed shares on behalf of their clients before the company was sanctioned.

Although Netanyahu denied allegations that he turned a blind eye to Hamas’ mounting wealth or took dangerous risks segregating Hamas and PA funds, he also refused to answer questions about the financial information recovered from Hamas discovered in 2018.

Turkey has played a significant role in Hamas fundraising, and US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson discussed his “profound concern” about this issue.

Turkey doesn’t consider Hamas a terror organization and often hosts its members.