Military and other security officers Sunday found and confiscated $620,000 and other possessions of a senior Hamas terrorist operating out of Tulkarm, an Arab city in Samaria located only several miles east of Netanya.
The Palestinian Authority deploys armed security forces to control terror in the city, but the IDF is usually the body that carries out maneuvers against senior terrorists.
The money and possessions that were confiscated had belonged to Ali Dadu, a founder of the Hamas network in Tulkarm, whom Israeli forces arrested last June. He has been convicted of being involved in the transfer of hundreds of thousands from abroad to the Judea and Samaria region for use in terrorism. A military court sentenced him to nine months in jail and fined him 12,000 shekels, or slightly more than $3,000.
Dadu has admitted to having received $620,000 from Hamas, which smuggled the money into Judea and Samaria. Dadu’s son Diaa also was arrested and told investigators that his father had received nearly $1 million in money.
The arrest and confiscation “should serve as a message to Hamas operatives and affiliates that involvement in the transfer of finances from terror organizations may jeopardize their property,” government spokesmen said.
They pointed out that the High Court has allowed the confiscation of equal sums of money from convicted persons’ private property.
The Hamas terror organization is constantly acting to rebuild its terror network in the Judea and Samaria region, using money from Hamas-controlled Gaza, Syria, Iran and Hizbullah.