Gaza Imam indicted for smuggling funds from Malaysia charities to Hamas
$3,000 USD were smuggled on behalf of the Malaysian charities to Hamas
By YONAH JEREMY BOBHAMAS MEMBERS in Gaza.(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Southern District Attorney’s Office on Thursday filed an indictment with the Beersheba District Court against a Gaza imam for smuggling funds from Malaysian charities to Hamas.According to the indictment, the Imam, Walid Div, 43, traveled from Gaza to Egypt and then on to Malaysia on numerous occasions since 2013 to fly to deliver religious sermons.While in Malaysia, Div was asked by Malaysian charities Aman Palestine and Mapim to smuggle funds back into Gaza for Hamas.In 2013, he smuggled $3,000 on behalf of the Malaysian chapter of Aman Palestine to Hamas.Div also worked with many of the same charities to smuggle funds to Hamas from Malaysia on other occasions, including contact with the Aman Palestine chapter in Gaza itself.Neither Div nor the Malaysian charities are currently officially associated with Hamas, but the charities include members of Hamas who use the charities as a front to raise terrorism funds for Gaza’s rulers.Likewise, while Div quit working directly with Hamas shortly after briefly joining them in 2004, he has maintained ties to various Hamas officials and had expressed a willingness to assist in smuggling funds.A statement from the Justice Ministry said that he had also helped smuggle a package of unknown identity (but presumed to be electronic) from Malaysia to Egypt, finding upon landing in Egypt that the object had disappeared.The statement appeared to imply that other associates of Hamas may have taken the package in Egypt once Div succeeded in getting it out of Malaysia.Div was charged with performing illegal activities for foreign agents, providing services to an illegal organization and acting to acquire assets in support of terrorism.
The state prosecution asked that he be detained in custody until the end of his trial.As Israel and the US have cracked down on terrorism financing for groups like Hamas, Gaza’s rulers have attempted to use creative approaches to raising terrorism funds abroad.Suitcases and clothing with concealed cash transported by clerics like Div, the elderly and others who might draw less scrutiny are only a few of Hamas’s tactics.
