The Subtle Art of Bankrolling Palestinian Terrorism

Thousands of people who have made donations to “the Palestinians” are effectively funding Palestinian terrorist organizations.

Graphic imagery of suffering children is often manipulated to solicit donations for Palestinian “humanitarian aid.” (photo: UNRWA/X)

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International supermodel sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid, whose father claims to be Palestinian, have pledged to donate $1 million to support “Palestinian relief efforts.”

Gigi wrote on Instagram after the Hamas-led October 7th massacres:

“While I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person.”

But the aforementioned $1 million, or at least a portion of it, will likely end up in the hands of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, which are hellbent on the Jewish State of Israel’s destruction, notwithstanding the 7 million Jews who live there.

Which means Gigi and Bella Hadid, as well as thousands of others who have made donations to “the Palestinians,” are effectively funding the terror group (whether they want to acknowledge it or not).

Hamas, like many other terrorist organizations, has a well-documented history of exploiting humanitarian aid to fund its activities. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas runs a network of social services (including schools, hospitals, and welfare programs) which serve as a front for its fundraising operations.

And, by providing social services, Hamas builds influence that it leverages to accrue exponentially more local sociopolitical support, a common tactic of the Muslim Brotherhood. (More on them soon.) Hence why 64 percent of Palestinians living in Gaza say they are satisfied with Hamas’ performance during the war, according to recent polling from the respected Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

What’s more, humanitarian aid (e.g. food, medical supplies, financial assistance) is often diverted from its intended recipients. In some cases, aid meant for civilians is seized by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and then sold on the black market, with the proceeds funneled back to terrorist activities. This not only deprives vulnerable populations of much-needed assistance but also strengthens the financial base of terrorist groups.

Frequently, Hamas and similar groups also launch fundraising campaigns under the guise of providing humanitarian relief. These campaigns are often targeted at diaspora communities and sympathetic international donors. Emotional appeals, combined with graphic imagery of suffering civilians, are used to solicit donations. Unbeknownst to many donors, a significant portion of these funds is redirected to support terrorism.

For instance, the Union of Good is an umbrella organization comprising numerous charities believed to be linked to Hamas. While publicly promoting humanitarian aid, these charities have been accused of transferring millions of dollars to Hamas-controlled entities. Such operations often exploit the lack of transparency and oversight in war-torn regions, making it difficult for donors and regulators to track the funds’ final destination.

There is also the online media organization “Gaza Now” which engaged in fundraising efforts to support Hamas in wake of the October 7th attacks in Israel. In many cases, the fundraising is indirect, since the formal recipient of the Western-based charity simply acts as a middleman and redirects all or part of the funds to Hamas. In other cases, the recipient is an educational or humanitarian organization that belongs more or less directly to the Hamas orbit.¹

In addition to creating their own charitable fronts, terrorist groups often infiltrate legitimate non-governmental organizations. By placing operatives in key positions within these organizations, they can redirect funds and resources to support their activities. This infiltration can be difficult to detect, since it often involves seemingly credible individuals with a history of humanitarian work.

Take, for example, United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has been operating an international network entitled the “Global Network on Question of Palestine” aimed at harming Israel, according to a UN Watch report published earlier this month.

Via the Global Network on Question of Palestine, the report stated that Albanese has been coordinating legal campaigns against Israel, justifying Hamas’ actions, and advocating for the funding of UNRWA (the notorious UN agency specifically and only for Palestinian “refugees”).

The report also found that the network’s members include some 100 people and NGOs, such as the United Nations, UNRWA, and officials from the Palestine Liberation Organization (another terrorist organization), along with “pro-Palestinian” academics and activists.

Among the institutions listed as members are the Palestinian Return Center, which Israel has deemed an “unlawful association” due to its Hamas affiliation, as well as the Ramallah-based Palestinian non-governmental human rights organization Al-Haq.

In 2021, Al-Haq was branded a terrorist organization by Israel, together with five other Palestinian non-profit, non-governmental organizations. Israel shared its intelligence on the groups with the C.I.A. and European agencies.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories (Courtesy)

Back to the UN Watch report, it suggested that, to encourage UNRWA funding, network members were told to utilize “overtly racist messaging” to raise the subjects of “illegal immigration” in Europe, specifically when speaking with Right-wing and anti-immigration governmental officials. According to the report, this would fuel the fear that failing to fund UNRWA would signify that “millions of Palestinians are forced to flee the Middle East.”

UNRWA, you might recall, has been accused by Israeli intelligence services of employing hundreds of Hamas operatives, including dozens who directly participated in the October 7th massacres.

And just yesterday, a Doctors Without Borders staffer was killed by the IDF. Why? Because he was also a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative involved in developing the terror group’s missiles.

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Terrorism financing investigations tend to be complex, since they require evidence that is often difficult to obtain, analyze, and admit in court. This is particularly true in the case of Hamas funding; the primary evidence often comes from Israel or other Middle Eastern countries, and therefore presents substantial admissibility and chain of custody issues.

Since Hamas has not been seen as a direct threat to their security, and terrorism financing investigations are labor-intensive, Western governments have not prioritized shutting down Hamas funding mechanisms. This has been particularly true during the last 10-to-15 years, since the attention has been largely focused on Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other global jihadist groups.

In some countries, any provision of funds to a designated terrorist organization, such as Hamas, is punishable. In others, it is necessary to meet the much higher probative threshold of demonstrating the donor’s intent to fund a specific act of terrorism.

Similarly, in some cases it was ruled that only funding Hamas’ military branch should be punished. Other courts have dismissed this argument, arguing that the distinction between branches is artificial and that funding Hamas’ social or political branch should also be punished.

As such, Western-based Hamas funding networks regularly change their tactics, engaging in a constant cat-and-mouse game with authorities. For example, charities frequently get dissolved or simply change their names to cover their tracks. Cryptocurrencies are also increasingly used in an effort to evade law enforcement.

“Hamas has been one of the more successful users of crypto for the financing of terrorism,” according to Tom Robinson, co-founder of the blockchain research firm Elliptic.²

Citing two cryptocurrency analytics firms and Israeli government seizure orders, the Wall Street Journal reported that cryptocurrency wallets connected to Hamas received about $41 million between 2020 and 2023, and that wallets connected to another terrorist organization in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, received as much as $93 million over a similar period.

Let’s not forget that Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has for decades engaged in money laundering through exchange offices, companies, charities, and inciting media channels to hide its funding sources and give them legitimacy. Investigations also revealed its exploitation of tourism and travel bureaus, social service bureaus, and Islamic centers in money laundering and the diversion and concealment of illegal funds for trading in arms.³

The good news is, when investigations do take place into Hamas’ financial milieus, they might also yield positive results from a security perspective. FBI Director Christopher Wray recently stated that, in light of developments in the Middle East, the possibility of Hamas carrying out attacks in the West cannot be discounted.

“While historically our Hamas cases have identified individuals here who are facilitating and financing terrorism overseas,” he stated, “we continue to scrutinize our intelligence to assess how that threat may be evolving.”

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1. “Tackling Hamas Funding in the West.” The George Washington University.

2. “Who funds Hamas? A global network of crypto, cash and charities.” Reuters.

3. “Unveiling the Muslim Brotherhood’s Business and Funding Networks.” The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.