As Gaza reconstruction continues counterterrorist community must get serious on “Hamas’ secret investment portfolio”

After going to war with Israel in the Spring of 2021, Hamas is now looking for financial help in rebuilding Gaza.  According to National Public Radio (NPR), “international donors, including the United States, that have pledged funds want to make sure those supplies don’t end up in the hands of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza”.

If the United States and the international community are serious, then they must ensure that US and international aid dollars are forcibly prevented for going to Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or Islamic Resistance Movement) by imposing tough internal controls on the disbursements of the money.

A first step in ensuring compliance with US and international sanctions and regulatory compliance regimes would be to thoroughly investigate the extent of Hamas’ alleged “…secret international investment portfolio… which the organization itself estimated at a booking value of 338 million dollars, which, according to estimates, should be worth more than half a billion dollars in real terms” according to recent documents shared with the German publication Die Welt.

The WELT article alleges that a Turkish-based investment company known as Trend GYO A.S. serves as Hamas’ primary investment vehicle. A brief open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigation seems to confirm basic facts presented in the WELT account. There is an entity by the name of Trend GYO A.S. (Turkey), and Hisham Y Qafisheh and Saleh Mabrouk O Mangoush, both named in the Welt piece as Hamas affiliates, are Trend GYO corporate officers. Trend GYO financial statements including: income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, financial ratios and other important financial information about the entity also comport with the Welt article’s claims.

OSINT investigations into the commercial and financial activities of Hamas and other terrorist organizations are not always hampered by lack of classified information.  The internet contains a wealth of OSINT, particularly, corporate commercial and financial intelligence information that make it possible for not just governments but also private individuals and organizations, and even investigative journalists, with purpose-driven missions and beliefs to root out and expose the flow of the international financing of terrorism.

According to the WELT piece, Hamas also employs methods used “by organized crime, according to security circles.”  Hamas’ funds are transferred with the help of money changers instead of via the banking system, where transfers are traceable.  In the U.S., it is illegal to operate an unlicensed money services business.  A similar legal framework would be needed in Gaza and all other jurisdictions to combat these activities, something that obviously is unlikely as long as Hamas continues to rule Gaza.

International pressure from donor countries may be one way to address this however, together with the greater deterrent of actions targeting terrorism financing of Hamas and international sanctions penalties.

International legislative and regulatory efforts aimed at corporate transparency and beneficial ownership would be another necessary step towards accountability.  Peeling away at the layers of corporate veils of Hamas-controlled entities could open the books for the Palestinian people who need, and should demand, an accountable and transparent government.

The Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), put in place after 2014 as an observation and tracking system to ensure donated construction materials reach civilians, not militants, has apparently done little to keep Hamas from rearming, according to Gaza-based experts.

Renewed counterterrorism investigations into the financing of Hamas would not only be welcome but would also be a restoration of earlier U.S. law enforcement actions to cut off the material support for terrorist activities of Hamas and other specially designated terrorist organizations.

Before international donors open up their pocketbooks to a new round of Gaza donations a little due diligence would be in order.  Hamas’ accountability and transparency can only become a reality when donors require the same international standards of transparency and beneficial ownership from Hamas and all its entities, and donors conduct their own vigorous open-source commercial-corporate financial investigations.