• The Times of Israel (July 29, 2021) ran a headline that said “Hamas warns terror groups may resume rocket fire unless Qatari funds enter Gaza.” This in addition to other threats of fire balloons and violent demonstrations at the border unless monetary demands of Hamas are met.
• Under the headline “Hamas demands more money from Qatar,” an Israel Hayom article of August 21, 2020 stated: Hamas is demanding that Qatar increase the amount of money it sends to the Gaza Strip each month to $40 million, to allow it to move ahead with a number of civilian projects in Gaza.
Notice the use of the words “or else,” “demands” and “ultimatum” versus “request.”
Notice the threats that accompany the “demands.”
Chutzpah? Extortion? Both?
These examples meet the criminal definition of extortion. A word that has been missing in the media when reporting on the topic of Qatari funds being sent to Gaza.
According to the Guide to Financial Crime and Fraud of Investopedia.com: “Extortion is the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or intimidation to gain money or property from an individual or entity. Extortion generally involves a threat being made to the victim’s person or property, or to their family or friends. While the threat of violence or property damage is commonplace in extortion, it can also involve reputational harm or unfavorable government action.”
A report from Interpol, the inter-governmental police organization, dated September 26, 2018, called “Organized crime underpins major conflicts and terrorism globally” states: “Organized crime is increasingly undermining peace, security and development,” said Mark Shaw, director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. “It has become a global phenomenon, represented in a confluence of conflicts from Africa to the Middle East and the Americas, and showing a distinct linkage to the response to international terrorism.”
It is important to remember that Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 leaving behind an infrastructure of agricultural greenhouses that were then immediately looted and destroyed by Gazans, thus even when handed to them, there was practically no industrial base in which to build a new country (NBC News, September 14, 2005). And, the PA and Hamas to this day do nothing in order to “nation build” but continue to demand donations from outsiders.
In his September 15, 2021 Jerusalem Post article “Misuse of Gaza aid is likely to continue,” Eitan Fischberger correctly observes “… that the Palestinian Authority had withdrawn from a deal to transfer Qatari aid to its employees in the Gaza Strip… the retraction stems from the PA’s refusal to funnel the funds through banks belonging to the Palestinian Monetary Authority out of fear that this would expose it to lawsuits and allegations of supporting terrorism…
“This is a tacit admission by the PA that foreign aid it receives is susceptible to mismanagement and diversion to terrorism. This development raises questions about assurances by the international community and NGOs that their aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will not be used to facilitate terrorism.”
(full article online)
There is a word that has been missing in the media when reporting on the topic of Qatari funds being sent to Gaza: Extortion.
www.jpost.com
www.israelunwired.com
www.palwatch.org
elderofziyon.blogspot.com
forward.com
www.europarl.europa.eu
www.france24.com
