Recently Gaza's Ismail Haniya of Hamas went on a trip to Iran to gather funds for the people of Gaza. At the border he was stopped and was told he could not enter Gaza without first leaving the money he had on his person, to the tune of 30 million dollars. The response given was due to the large amount, there were concerns on the Israeli side of funding the resistance, that is the small katyusha rocket attacks. [1]

Since the beginning of the year, the elected Hamas government has been held under economic seige and unable to pay its government workers. The humanitarian crisis has been brewing throughout the year [1],[2], [3] and could provide a legitimate reason for the infusion of capital. The problem was the Israeli guards were concerned about Haniya's credibility.

Question for debate,

Do you agree with the actions of the border guards?

Should the money be returned or should the money be converted into tangible aid and then distributed?

Do you think the money should be pocketed and forgotten?

You can't come into the US with $30M in cash, so I'm sure that Israel has laws of a very similar nature. I'm confident that the Israeli government won't just "pocket" the cash. However- the money shouldn't be let loose in the hands of God knows who.

Frankly- if you there were credible uses for this money, why wouldn't the money have been sent in a respectable transfer such as wire transfer or a more traceable method? I don't think respectable government officals have $30M in cash on a regular basis. In the US, people would go GO NUTS if GW came back from Central America in a trunk to the tune of $30M in cash.

I tend to agree with this logic, but have to wonder if the financial lockdowns imposed on Hamas have made such transfers impossible. If a legitimate purpose was truly intended, then it should still be quite possible to distribute the money to the proper places. If not, then consider this $30 million worth of bad news prevented. Would capture of $30 million in drug money be lamented here in the U.S.? No, it would almost certainly be applauded.

The border guards did the right thing. Unless an international incident is to made of this on purpose the monies will need to be returned in their original form. While I think it would be prudent to turn it into something useful there's no way to say "You're going to invest that money into bombs" without creating havoc.

Hobbes has hit the nail on the head in this one. Hamas is listed (and rightly so in my mind) as a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe and as such their financial institutions will NOT transfer money to them or make currency exchanges for them. The money can't really be brought into the territories any other way.

While the thought of the Hamas government swimming in cash may seem repugnant, make no mistake, the Israeli government isn't impeding the flow of cash just to prevent violence. It is in Israel's best interest (so far as the government is concerned) to keep the occupied territories unstable, and the economic sanctions placed on it do just that.

Actually, I know of at least one instance in which government representatives from Syria and Saudi Arabia attempted to give sponsorship money in the form of a briefcase full of cash to Arab American Organizations. It wasn't that they were trying to do anything under the table or wrong, they just didn't know of US procedures. They really don't have the same restrictions on money, banking, and lending over there, for instance the Halawa system is still in use all over.

Do you agree with the actions of the border guards?

You bet. What we have to remember here is that Hamas is about to take over the country of Lebanon after which it becomes a threat to the region equal to Iran and Syria.