The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel has learned that the Hamas leadership in Gaza recently asked Israel to help it change NIS 500 million into dollars or dinars in Ramallah. The Forum added that according to the report it received, the reason Hamas needs the money is that smugglers who operate between Gaza and Egypt refuse to be paid with shekels.
The Legal Forum turned to the Attorney General, Yehudah Weinstein, and requested that the government refrain from changing Hamas' money.
The smugglers whom Hamas wishes to pay with the money “busy themselves with bringing in weapons and ammunition that are intended for terror actions,” the Forum noted.
The Forum added: “It was just this week that missiles from Gaza hit Israel. Israel's intelligence agencies have informed the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and government ministers of the smugglers' activity. Agreeing to the request for changing the money would – on the face of it – constitute an act of assistance to terror, and a clear infringement of the law that forbids funding of terror activities. Therefore we ask that you instruct the Prime Minister and Defense Minister to give instructions not to change these funds.”
The Forum added that in spite of the Law against Funding of Terror that forbids the transfer of goods to a terror entity, the High Court has dismissed the Forum's motions regarding the transfer of funds that are supposed to pay the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees in Gaza. These funds continue to be transported by the truckload into Gaza, although there is no certainty that the money does not reach terror organizations.