For the first time ever, the State of Israel will use targeted economic sanctions against individual terrorists around the world, the Defense Ministry announced Tuesday afternoon.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett (New Right) signed an administrative order Tuesday aimed at restricting the financial activities of terrorists.
The order, which is the first of its kind signed in Israel, restricts terrorists’ access to their assets and ability to manage their finances both in Israel and abroad.
The Defense Ministry said Tuesday’s administrative order was just the first in a series of planned moves by the ministry, with additional orders to be signed by Minister Bennett in the near future.
Terrorists targeted by the new order will be added to a database, fully accessible to the public, which will eventually include hundreds of terrorists linked to Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations.
According to a statement by the Defense Ministry, Tuesday’s administrative order is based on a larger plan for Israel’s defense establishment to add non-military means, particularly economic ones, to its arsenal, enabling Israel to hamper the efforts of terrorist groups to direct terror cells from abroad.
Tueday’s administrative order targets Mohammed Jamil Mahmoud Hersh, a 47-year-old Hamas terrorist who was expelled to Lebanon in 1992, and has recently moved to the UK, where he runs the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK, a front group for Hamas in Britain.