Bessent: Treasury Department Shutting Down Sham Charities That Funnel Money to Hamas
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Thursday that it has determined four sham charities are directly bankrolling Hamas’s military wing and enabling its operations.
According to the Treasury Department, Hamas is hiding its revenue-generating activities behind civilian organizations, under the guise of humanitarian work, to support the group’s terrorist activities.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent was quoted in a press release yesterday, saying, “Hamas continues to finance its military wing by exploiting sham charities to support terrorist operations. The Treasury Department will not allow Hamas to misuse the charitable sector for its violent aims, and we will continue to target these networks wherever they operate.”
Four separate charities are accused of channeling cash to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which are suspected of carrying out some of the group’s most heinous terrorist activities.
The Treasury Department said that yesterday’s designations build upon multiple previous OFAC actions against Hamas’s global network of sham charities and denounced Hamas’s continued reliance on organizations that prey on donors’ sympathies to transfer large sums of money that end up prolonging the suffering of Palestinians.
Sanctions were announced against Ghazi Destek Dernegi (GDD), Hayat Yolu, and Palestinian White Hands—as well as the Indonesia-based Komite Nasional Untuk Rakyat Palestina (KNRP).
The goals of those sanctions include freezing any U.S. assets or transactions, blocking American dealings with the designated entities, and protecting the U.S. financial system from terror financing.
Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Thomas “Tommy” Pigott, stated in a press release yesterday, “The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to expose and end the deceitful practices that these entities and individuals use to raise funds that support terror networks.”
Pigott added, “We are committed to ensuring that humanitarian aid can be delivered by reliable and safe organizations and to supporting international efforts to advance legitimate Palestinian interests and lasting peace in the region.”
The Daily Wire reports that Hamas was first designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2001 and said that yesterday’s enforcement was conducted under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing them with material support.
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