US Treasury moves against bank, TV station in Gaza because of alleged ties to Hamas

US Treasury moves against Gaza bank, TV station

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has taken action against a Gaza-based bank and television station for alleged ties to the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

The department said that it would freeze any assets in the United States of the Islamic National Bank of Gaza and Al-Aqsa Television. Treasury said both organizations were controlled by Hamas and therefore subject to restrictions aimed at halting financial support of terrorist organizations.

“Treasury will continue to expose Hamas’ efforts to create institutions with the trappings of legitimacy that are in fact controlled by and used to support a terrorist organization,” Stuart Levey, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement Thursday.

The order freezes any assets of the two organizations that might be held by U.S. banks and it prohibits American banks from handling any transactions involving them.

Treasury said that Hamas opened the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City in 2009 after more than two years of planning even though it did not have a legal operating license from the Palestinian Monetary Authority. Treasury said that the bank operates outside the legitimate financial system.

Treasury said the bank was providing Hamas with a means to receive and store large amounts of smuggled cash. In May 2009, Hamas’ finance officer in Gaza moved 1.1 million euros to the bank and then used the funds to pay the salaries of members of Hamas’ military wing, Treasury said.

Levey said the department moved against the television station because “Treasury will not distinguish between a business financed and controlled by terrorist groups, such as Al-Aqsa Television, and the terrorist group itself.”