When Belgium’s only Jewish MP found out the the local Hamas internet domain in his country was vacant, he decided to buy it, and pull a little prank: If you search for Hamas.be on the internet, you will immediately be forwarded to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official website in English.
“Having seen the many anti-Israel pro-Hamas protests in Europe, including unfortunately, in my country, I noticed that the site www.hamas.be was still available,” Michael Freilich told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. Adding that he “immediately went and bought the domain of the site, to make sure that no pro-Hamas activists in this country decides to get any insightful and wrong information,” he said.
“I registered the site, and the first thing I did was redirect it to the IDF site. So, at the moment, anyone who goes on this site, is directed to the IDF news site.”
Hamas supporters, Israel is coming for you
He added that “the message is very clear. Anyone that wants to support Hamas should know ‘Israel is coming for you.’ The Israeli Defense Forces are coming for you, and will wipe you off the map.” Freilich explained that “I want the supporters of Hamas in this country also to know that Belgian politicians, especially those from my party, have been standing behind Israel and have said so in various statements.
“The head of my party, who is the mayor of the city of Antwerp, and head of the largest political faction in Belgium, Bart De Wever said very clearly at the beginning of the week: ‘In this fight between Israel and Hamas, there's only one side to choose and that is the side of Israel. We stand resolutely beside Israel.’”
On Saturday, the Post published that Freilich publicly commended the decision to shut down an online payment account previously connected to Gaza Now, a news platform and Telegram group tied to Hamas, boasting a membership of over 1.1 million.
Earlier, he communicated his concerns to online payment institution Wise – a UK-based foreign exchange financial technology company – and the National Bank of Belgium, urging prompt action against the account. The group can now fund-raise only through the use of Bitcoin.
Although Wise’s policies prevent disclosure of specifics about individual cases, Freilich confirmed independently that the account is incapacitated from receiving any further payments. Furthermore, Gaza Now has subsequently removed these account details from their donation page.
Freilich told the Post on Sunday morning that the move “signifies a crucial step forward in combating the channels that fuel terrorism and propagate hate speech.
My investigations confirmed the suspension of the account, striking a significant blow to Hamas’s global fundraising endeavors.” Freilich added that this means any payments in Europe will not be possible now. In addition, PayPal has stopped allowing transferring of funds to the organization.