US sanctions Hamas, PFLP-linked sham charities

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against five people and five charities that it said support Hamas’s terror activities under the pretense of humanitarian work inside and outside of Gaza.

The federal government also sanctioned another charity linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday.

“Today’s action underscores the importance of safeguarding the charitable sector from abuse by terrorists like Hamas and the PFLP, who continue to leverage sham charities as fronts for funding their terrorist and military operations,” stated Michael Faulkender, the deputy U.S. treasury secretary.

“Treasury will continue to use all available tools to prevent Hamas, the PFLP and other terrorist actors from exploiting the humanitarian situation in Gaza to fund their violent activities at the expense of their own people,” Faulkender stated.

The entities sanctioned include the Gaza-based Al Weam Charitable Society, the Turkey-based Filistin Vakfi, the Algerian-based El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, the Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation and the Italy-based Associazione Benefica.

Al Weam is accused of employing Hamas members and of being “clandestinely controlled by Hamas and fully integrated into Hamas’s military wing.”

The five individuals designated on Tuesday are leaders associated with those entities.

The department noted that Hamas and PFLP have a long history of abusing non-profit organizations and charities, often at the expense of the Palestinian people.

The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, based in Judea and Samaria, was also sanctioned on Tuesday. The Treasury Department said that the organization “purports to represent the interests of Palestinian prisoners” but has “long supported and is affiliated with the PFLP.”

“The U.S. government’s designation of Addameer follows the earlier ban on Samidoun and highlights the abuse of NGO frameworks by Palestinian terror groups,” Gerald Steinberg, the president of NGO Monitor, told JNS.

“The designation also puts pressure on Spain to end its funding for Addameer, and, with other European countries, to review all support for the Palestinian NGO network,” he said.

© JNS