Track bypassing terrorist restrictions: The Ministry of Finance recently issued a proposal that would allow continued payments to Palestinian banks, even when these are suspected of being funds for terrorism or money laundering.
The name of the proposal - "Memorandum of the Correspondence Services Law".
The background to the law is the great fear of Bank Hapoalim and Discount Bank of lawsuits against them, after many years of contact with the Palestinian banks.
It will be recalled that Israeli intelligence and international reports indicate that Palestinian banks do not comply with international norms regarding the transfer of terrorist funds and the prohibition of money laundering, and the Israeli banks demanded that the activity be taken out of their hands.
"We have never had an economic benefit from this activity. In fact, we have done the country a favor in the continuation of the activity to date," a source at one of the banks told Israel Today, adding: "The exposure was great and the risks huge. You do not want to find yourself in money Rolls into an attack and then got involved with the Americans. "
The purpose of the law - to allow bank payment to the Palestinians and to avoid sanctions, Photo: AFP
To take on the risk of transferring the funds, the government set up the government company Correspondence Services Ltd. in 2019. However, even after three years the company is still inactive, probably due to the same legal and financial risks that are troubling the banks. The government is initiating a dedicated law, which does not exist in relation to other government companies, and aims to allow Israeli employers to pay their Palestinian workers in an orderly and non-cash manner, as has been the practice for decades. .
The explanatory memorandum to the law that will regulate the company states: "The company will be subject to a regime prohibiting money laundering and terrorist financing."
However, some sub-sections of the law open a legal opening, which will in effect exempt the company from the accepted requirements for the fight against terrorism.
Thus, for example, section 4A states: "The provision of correspondence services, in accordance with this law, shall be deemed to be actions in respect of which the provisions of section 32 (d) of the Anti-Terrorism Law have been complied with."
This section gives the Minister of Defense the authority to exempt bodies from the sections of the law on the fight against terrorism.
A political source confirmed to "Israel Today" that the establishment of the designated company and the special law "are intended to provide a solution and protection against the problems of money laundering and terrorist money, which involve the financial connection with the Palestinians."
Lt. Col. (Res.) Adv. Maurice Hirsch, former head of the military prosecution in Judea and Samaria, who now heads the legal department of the Palestinian Media Institute, added that "Palestinian banks are full partners in financing terrorism and, among other things, hold accounts. And provide services to declared terrorist organizations such as Hamas, the Popular Front and the Palestinian National Fund.
Instead of demanding that the PA fulfill its commitment to fight terrorism, the Israeli government proposes to fold and enact a law that means providing banking services, consciously, to terrorist organizations.
The president of the Shurat HaDin organization, Adv. Nitzana Darshan Leitner, sharply attacked the initiative. The bypass way to train the transfer of funds to Hamas and the prisoners' money.
How can the State of Israel continue to demand that the world fight the transfer of funds to Hamas or the prisoners' money, which it itself allows to be transferred? "
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