The bulk of the Palestinian militant group’s funding is provided by foreign governments, a former US counter-terrorism financial analyst told Euronews.
The US Treasury Department has imposed two rounds of sanctions on key Hamas-linked officials and financial networks in the past two weeks, following the 7 October attacks on Israel.
The measures target the Palestinian militant group’s external fundraising, which includes its secret investment portfolio: A series of investments largely comprising stakes in real estate companies that are spread mainly across the Arab world and held by Hamas supporters, according to Jonathan Schanzer, former counter-terrorism financial analyst at the US Department of the Treasury.
The organisation’s followers grant Hamas access to the funds by transferring the business proceeds to the group “in underhand ways,” explained Schanzer, now senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
We have turned a blind eye to this activity [Hamas' external funding] for more than a decade.
Jonathan Schanzer
Former counter-terrorism financial analyst at the US Treasury Department
The US sanctions aim to block any kind of transaction to and from the identified firms and individuals, to cut off the capital flow to the US and EU-designated terrorist group. When the US takes this decision, other countries usually jump on board.
But do these penalties actually harm Hamas’ financial resources? Probably not, according to Schanzer, namely due to the significant influx of funds from elsewhere.
About half of Hamas’ funding comes from foreign governments
Hamas’ external sources of revenue are considerable, with estimates putting them to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
However, “as a percentage of the terrorist group's overall budget, it's far more important to focus first and foremost, on Iran and Qatar”, Schanzer said.
According to the former counter-terrorism analyst, Hamas has an annual budget of around $1 billion (€938 million) to govern the Gaza Strip and run its military arm.
“Around $200 million of that comes from Iran. Another $100 to 200 million comes from Qatar”, Schanzer added.
Source: euronews
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