The director in the Gaza Strip of the Christian relief organization ‘World Vision’ was arrested by Israel’s security services on allegations of funneling some 60% of the organization’s funding for the Palestinian enclave to the Islamist Hamas organization, an internationally recognized terror group that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state. “After a long investigation it was clear that Hamas is using the money which the world donates for the international organizations such as World Vision in Gaza, and the evidence is the confession of the detainee Mohammad El Halabi, the director of the organization in Gaza, that he was transferring money to Hamas, millions of dollars,” said Yoav Mordechai, IDF’s coordinator of Government Activities in ‘the Territories’.
During the investigation into his activities, World Vision’s Gaza director Mohammed El-Halabi revealed that he diverted approximately 7.2 million dollars per year to the military wing of Hamas that were intended mainly to strengthen its attack capabilities against Israel. As such, Israel said the funds were utilized to finance the digging of attack tunnels, the construction of military bases and the purchase of weapons – including rockets that were fired towards Israel over the years. In light of these findings, Israel’s Foreign Ministry Secretary General Dore Gold sent a letter urging the United Nations and other donor countries supporting the Christian organization’s work in the Gaza Strip to immediately seize all funding to world vision. The first country to comply is Australia, as it announced it was suspending all funding to World Vision operations in Palestinian Territories until the investigation is complete. World Vision released a statement saying it was “shocked” by Israel’s allegations, stressing it had regular internal and independent audits and evaluations as well as a broad range of internal controls to ensure aid reached intended beneficiaries. The statement said “Based on the information available to us at this time, we have no reason to believe that the allegations are true. We will carefully review any evidence presented to us and will take appropriate actions based on that evidence.”