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U.S. Moves to Further Hobble Hamas and Its Financial Networks
Three weeks after Hamas terrorists conducted their horrific attack on Israel, brutally killing 1,400 people and taking hundreds more hostage, the United States has imposed new sanctions on key Hamas-linked officials and financial networks.
The Treasury Department said in a statement, “Individuals targeted today play a key role in operating companies in Hamas’s investment portfolio in circumvention of the sanctions imposed by Treasury. [They] also underscore the critical role Iran plays in providing financial, logistical, and operational support to Hamas.”
The individuals sanctioned include a Jordanian national who is a long-time Hamas official in Iran and several members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, which has been training and assisting Hamas, as well as the terror groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.
Also designated were the Al-Ansar Charity Association, which funds the Palestinian Islamic Jihad through the Iranian Bonyad Shahid, also known as the Martyrs Foundation; and three companies owned or controlled by Sudan-based Hamas financier Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Mohamed Khair.
Three primary shareholders of the Turkiye-based company Trend GYO, which is a key component of Hamas’s global asset holdings, were also sanctioned.
Speaking in London after the new U.S. sanctions were announced, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, “Hamas and associated terrorist groups have long sought to destroy Israel and attack those in the region and around the world that do not ascribe to their hate-filled ideology.
“These groups need financial resources to help fuel their hate. To do so, they have developed ways to access or circumvent our financial systems. ... Our goal is to cut off those financial resources, while ensuring humanitarian aid can continue to flow to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Deputy Secretary Adeyemo emphasized the need for coordination among allies and partners in the face of the global threat posed by terrorists.
“We recognize the importance of taking on these challenges with our partners as a coalition,” he said. “In the face of sanctions, a target’s first reaction is to seek safety elsewhere. They transfer money, exchange currencies, and relocate operations – all in an attempt to continue their illicit activities. We stand ready,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Adeyemo said, “to work with countries around the world to ensure that terrorists and those who enable them have nowhere to hide their money.”