by Leonid Tsukanov
| Expanding on this very basic report from yesterday. |
The money flowed out of Israel and, having made a detour in a "third country", ended up in the enclave. The total amount of funds, converted into dollars, is estimated at tens of millions.
However, this time the main figure in the story was not Iran, to which Tel Aviv traditionally blames spy activities within the country, but Turkey. It was through Turkish “gray accounts” (with the tacit consent of the authorities) that the majority of funds intended for Hamas passed.
Official Tel Aviv has accumulated quite a few questions for Ankara, but it decided to voice them at the very moment when Turkish ambitions in the Middle East suddenly clashed with Israeli ones.
A CONFUSING ROUTE
According to a joint report by the General Security Service (Shabaq) and the "Israeli FBI" (Lahav 433), the criminal group included at least six people - Israelis of Arab, including Palestinian, origin.
Their activities were directed by an Israeli Arab, Fadi Arabi, who lived in the small town of Arraba in the north of the country. According to investigators, it was he who created the international network and provided communications between the Turkish headquarters of Hamas and its units in the Gaza Strip, as well as in Judea and Samaria.
He also allegedly coordinated the circulation of funds intended for Hamas. The money came from Turkey, where there were many sympathizers of the Palestinian movement, and from Israel - with a hook through dummy accounts in Turkish banks.
For these purposes, Fadi recruited his brother Nassim, who lived in Turkey and helped keep the financial channel out of the sight of Turkish law enforcement, and also promptly interacted with Hamas functionaries.
They, in turn, periodically transferred large consignments of cash for the needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They were transported the old-fashioned way - in suitcases.
It is noteworthy that Israeli law enforcement was already on the gang's tail in January, when several couriers with bundles of money of "unclear origin" were arrested. However, Arabi managed to elude the investigation and even recruit several new "financiers", which allowed the scheme to continue to operate for several more months.
"OXYGEN PIPELINE"
The Shin Bet dubbed the discovered financial channel an “oxygen pipeline,” since the financial aid coming from Turkey largely helped Hamas stay afloat and continue its fierce resistance to Israel.
It is known for certain that the group's members transferred more than 3 million shekels (about 800 thousand dollars) to the movement (in cash and by transfers). However, law enforcement officials insist that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
For example, Lahav 433 has data on ambiguous transfers from Turkey totaling $2.5 million, the real recipients of which have yet to be verified.
It is also proposed to include in the "overall calculation" the "additional expenses" that Israel incurred after the forced expansion of the counter-terrorist operation in Judea and Samaria. The total damage to the country according to this method is estimated at $15 million.
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST TURKEY
Israeli law enforcement and politicians are wondering why Turkey never informed Israel about the suspicious transfers. According to some of the suspects, local security officials were aware of the financial channel but did not interfere.
This led investigators to the idea that the arrested Arabi is not the only leader of the network and that the “conductor” of the financial channel should be sought among Turkish politicians and security officials.
The version that foreign intelligence services had a hand in promoting the “oxygen pipeline” is also being considered, since the detainees had no special training and, as further cross-examinations showed, had a poor understanding of how the global system for combating money laundering works.
However, Tel Aviv does not yet have enough trump cards to clearly accuse any third country of interference.
It is worth mentioning that information about the discovery of a secret channel for financing Hamas appeared on the day when representatives of Turkey and Israel held talks in Baku on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Syria.
Ankara's insistence and unwillingness to leave Syria deeply hurt the Israelis, and the parties were unable to reach an understanding.
But the failure of the negotiations has given free rein to the populists, both in the ranks of the parliamentary opposition and in the government. The Israeli establishment has once again started saying that the “heart” of Hamas should be sought not in Qatar or Lebanon, but in Turkey, where the real leaders of the movement have settled, and not “political extras.”
And the “oxygen pipeline” scandal only further inflames the debate.
It is largely beneficial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, although the promotion is mainly carried out by his political opponents from the Shin Bet and the opposition camp.
Shifting the focus to Turkey will temporarily distract the public from the Qatargate investigation and highlight that Ankara deliberately ignored Hamas's gray scheme in order to weaken Israel from within and distract it from the struggle for influence in Syria and the rest of the Middle East.
Such a shift in emphasis could well make unviable the thesis that the Israeli prime minister, who provided image support to Doha, is solely to blame for the strengthening of Hamas’s position.
| Given that it is objectively evil to claim that Bibi is solely or even mostly to blame for the strengthening of Hamas’s position… |