Following reports about the Israeli Mossad's knowledge of the existence of Hamas' multimillion-dollar fund, the Prime Minister's Office announced Monday evening that "contrary to the claims, the Mossad has always acted under the Prime Minister's instructions to thwart the transfer of terror funds to Hamas in any way, and any other claim is baseless."
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According to an investigation published in The New York Times, Israel gained access to detailed records of Hamas assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but nothing was done to shut off the faucet. According to the report, in 2018, senior Israeli officials gained access to classified documents that described in detail what appeared to be an investment fund used by Hamas to finance its operations.
The editorial board of The New York Times, photo: AFP
The lists, obtained from a senior Hamas official's computer, detailed assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including road construction companies in Sudan, skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, a real estate company in Algeria, and even poultry businesses. The report claimed that these documents would have made it possible to reduce Hamas' revenues and thwart its plans. The agents who obtained the information shared it with the government in Israel and Washington – but nothing happened, it said: "Not a single company among those found in the records was sanctioned by the United States and Israel. No one publicly pressured Turkey, from which the property network was operated, to shut it down."
The Hamas leadership (archive), photo: Reuters
The newspaper also reports that at its peak, Hamas had assets worth half a billion dollars. According to the investigation, both U.S. and Israeli officials failed to recognize the importance of financial intelligence, which explicitly indicated diverting tens of millions of dollars of asset revenues to Hamas just as the terrorist group was buying weapons and planning the attack. These funds helped Hamas build the military infrastructure and prepare for the attack on October 7.
Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, during whose tenure the incidents occurred, referred to the New York Times investigation in an interview with Galatz on Sunday morning: "The investigation is inaccurate," Cohen claimed, adding: "The overseas investigative writers did not seek comment. We worked very hard to bring in Hamas' sources of funding, but I can't elaborate. I can say that the investigation is inaccurate."
This evening, as mentioned, the Prime Minister's Office again denied the veracity of the publication.
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