Financing Terrorism

The Iranian regime operates many Arabic-language Internet sites to spread its radical Islamic ideology to the Arab and Muslim populations around the world

The Iranian regime makes a great effort to export Khomeini’s radical Islamic ideology. One of its objectives is to advance Iran’s aspirations for hegemony in the Middle East and another is to support its political ideology and propaganda campaign against the United States and Israel. Read more...

Terrorism and Internet: Hezbollah’s widespread use of the Internet as a means to distribute anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish, and anti-American incitement as part of the war for the hearts and minds (as at December 3, 2006)

As part of the war for the hearts and minds waged by Hezbollah, the organization, similarly to Hamas, makes extensive use of the Internet. Read more...

Hamas’s new satellite television channel: a step forward in Hamas’s battle for hearts and minds

A Hamas-operated satellite broadcasting station named “The Light of Al-Aqsa” (Saraj al-Aqsa ) started broadcasting on October 15 in the afternoon. For the time being, the station airs archive footage of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and songs of religious character. The station will broadcast from Dubai (where the station manager, Ziyad al-Hasanat, is based) and the Read more...

Hezbollah publications found during the second Lebanon war in south Lebanon inculcate the radical ideology of the Islamic revolution in Iran

Hezbollah publications found during the second Lebanon war in south Lebanon inculcate the radical ideology of the Islamic revolution in Iran, and glorify jihad, shahada (death as a martyr) and the personality cults of the Ayatollah Khomeini and ‘Ali Khamenei. Read more...

Hezbollah’s Shi’ite youth movement, “The Imam al-Mahdi Scouts,” has tens of thousands of members

Hezbollah’s Shi’ite youth movement, “The Imam al-Mahdi Scouts,” has tens of thousands of members. According to captured documents, they are indoctrinated with the principles of radical Iranian Islam. That indoctrination includes the personality cult of Iranian leader ‘Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah’s “battle legacy;” national Lebanese symbols are minimized. Read more...

Documents captured during the second Lebanon war reveal how Hezbollah raises funds and at the same time furthers its propaganda and indoctrination campaign, stressing the younger generation.

Leaflets related to fund-raising for Hezbollah and the organization’s indoctrination of the Lebanese population (particularly the Shi’ite population) were captured from Hezbollah terrorists in the villages of ‘Aita al-Sha’ab and Aita’run during the second Lebanon war. The leaflets and other documents captured were issued by a Hezbollah institution called the Islamic Resistance Support Association. Read more...

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Financing Terrorism

A terrorist organization must have sources of financing to finance and carry out all of its activity and goals. Without financing sources, it will be difficult for the organization to exist and carry out its goals. Without financing, the organization will not be able to handle, support and equip its operatives, and prepare and maintain a reasonable infrastructure for its activity.

Terrorist financing can be divided into two main goals: financing a focused act of terrorism with a clear goal. In this case, the financing activity will be limited in scope, amount and time. The other type of goal is a broader goal of establishing, maintaining, and cultivating the terrorist infrastructure, organizational structure, purchasing, ongoing expenses, payment of salaries and more. In this case, the financing activity is not limited in time, ceiling or financial scope.

Most of the money for terrorism financing comes from terror-sponsoring countries, among which Iran is prominent (and is involved in the financing of terrorism carried out by Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad). Terrorist organizations have additional sources of financing, such as revenues from criminal activity (Hezbollah), the sale of oil products, and the collection of taxes from the population (ISIS). Other organizations finance terrorism with funds obtained from sources such as donations, charities, commercial profits, etc., which were diverted to terrorism financing.

In recent years there has been growing recognition of the importance of thwarting terrorist financing channels as part of the effort to thwart terrorist activity. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the international struggle against terror financing gained momentum, and it was decided to integrate the international struggle against terrorism into the struggle against terrorism financing and even to streamline it through legislation and counterterrorism activities. However, as the struggle against terrorism financing increases, the methods of terrorism financing become more sophisticated and diverse, making it more difficult to monitor the sources of terrorism financing and to cope with them.