Financing Terrorism

Financing Terrorism: Currency Exchange in the Service of Hamas

The Hamas movement needs enormous sums of money to finance its terrorist activities. Because Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by many countries, and because the conventional global banking system does not operate in the Gaza Strip and is monitored by security bodies and state and international enforcement agencies, Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip (and Iran) are forced to look for alternative methods to transfer funds to its coffers. The Hamas leadership, in collaboration with the Iranians, employ several channels to transfer the funds. They rely on traditional money changers, use Offset methods between Palestinian laborers and merchants for money changers, and use digital means such as virtually unregulated cryptocurrencies, which are transferred according to agreement by a mostly confidential network. Read more...

Israeli Security Force Operation in Jenin and the Jenin Refugee Camp Review and Summary

Shortly before 2 a.m. on July 5, 2023, the Israeli security force operation in Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp ended; it had lasted for 48 hours and led to the destruction of about one thousand IEDs, the exposure and destruction of dozens of sites for the manufacture of weapons, underground shafts, and command and operation rooms. In addition, hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of shekels used to fund terrorist activities were seized. An IDF fighter was killed as the forces left the area. Three "revenge attacks" were carried out during the activity: a combined vehicular ramming and stabbing in Tel Aviv, a stabbing in Bnei Brak and a shooting at the settlement of Avnei Hefetz (southeast of Tulkarm). Five rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli communities near the border as the activity wound down. In response to the rocket attack, Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked two Hamas terrorist targets in Gaza. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (June 16-29, 2023)

Growing tension on the Israel-Lebanon border Hezbollah refuses to remove the two-tent post it erected on the Israeli side of the Blue Line (the Israel-Lebanon border). Israel warned south Lebanese residents to keep their distance from the border. Hezbollah intercepted an IDF UAV in south Lebanon. According to reports, Hezbollah uses Beirut airport's radar system. Relations between Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon's refugee camps are growing stronger.According to a Washington Institute report on Lebanon's financial crisis, Hezbollah profits by exploiting the situation to expand its control over the Lebanese infrastructure, from its banks to its fuel and electricity. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (April 24 – May 3, 2023)

This week, ISIS carried out relatively low-scale activity around the world. The focus of the activity was on Africa.A US-led Global Coalition force, supported by the Kurdish SDF forces, detained a senior ISIS commander north of Al-Raqqah. The US Army reported an airstrike against a senior Al-Qaeda operative in northwestern Syria. In Nigeria: ISIS continued its activity against Nigerian army targets and against local residents in the northeast of the country. In Congo ISIS continued its activity against Christian residents in the northeast of the country. At least seven residents were killed. Three people, two of them Jews and a Tunisian security guard, were killed in an attack carried out at the entrance to a synagogue on the island of Djerba in Tunisia . So far, no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it may have been an Islamic-motivated attack. The editorial of ISIS’s Al-Naba weekly stressed ISIS’s weakness in the Arab region alongside its expansion on the African continent, noting that Africans have replaced the Arabs as successors of the path of jihad. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (April 21 – May 4, 2023)

The Iranian foreign minister, paid an official visit to Lebanon. He met with Hezbollah leader and toured south Lebanon near the Israeli border. On the sidelines of the visit he met with PIJ.Syrian sources reported Israeli Air Force attacks on Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Shi'ite militia targets in Syria. After the attacks Hezbollah forces reportedly redeployed in Syria.A Jerusalem district court sentenced an east Jerusalem dentist to five years in prison; he was convicted of spying for Hezbollah.A new study revealed sources of Hezbollah's funding and its involvement in the international drug trade. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (March 2-8, 2023)

ISIS activity around the world moderately increased this week. The main event was a suicide attack in southwest Pakistan in which 10 policemen were killed and 12 others were wounded. In Syria: Eight civilians were killed and over 35 were wounded when a mine, apparently of ISIS, exploded near a truck that was carrying them. Somali security forces killed 200 operatives of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab and took over several areas that were under the organization’s control. Several media foundations affiliated with ISIS, which deal with the translation of the organization’s media materials into different languages, announced that they started operating under one media foundation called “Fursan al-Tarjuma.” 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.