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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas spends $100 million a year on military infrastructure
2016-09-10
[IsraelTimes] $40 million of the annual total goes to terror group’s tunnel digging work, which employs 1,500 Paleostinians

As the residents of the Gazoo Strip endure daily hardships due to the dire economic situation in the enclave, their Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, leaders spend over $100 million a year on the group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, according to estimates by both Israeli and Paleostinian sources. Spending on digging tunnels accounts for some $40 million of that annual sum.

By way of comparison, the budget of the last Hamas government, which dissolved in April 2014, was $530 million. In other words, some 20 percent of the budget was funneled toward arming the group with advanced weapons, digging tunnels, training, and salaries for Hamas fighters.

Some 1,500 Hamas members from various brigades are currently employed in tunnel digging. The average salary for an excavator is $250-$400 a month -- relatively high for the Strip, where unemployment is rampant. The diggers also receive bonuses and incentives for meeting deadlines set by the Hamas military leadership. Veteran diggers receive higher salaries than others.

The military wing of Hamas continues to be helmed by the Muhammed Deif, who serves as a chief of staff, while Yahya Sinwar serves as a defense minister and liaison with the political wing. Under them, Marwan Issa, Deif’s aide de camp, deals with building up the group’s military capabilities. Reporting to Issa are various commanders of different brigades and areas, such as defense industries and others.

The military wing has continued to develop its capabilities over the past two years in anticipation of another possible war with Israel. Among other things, Hamas has been investing in weapons that could bypass the Iron Dome anti-missile system and in more precise rockets than those it possessed in the summer of 2014, when it fought a 50-day war with Israel.

As part of this effort, Hamas, an Islamist terror group avowedly committed to destroying Israel, has allocated tremendous resources to smuggling materials into the Strip that can be used for building weapons, mostly from Israel, but also by sea or through smuggling tunnels from the Sinai Peninsula.

Last week, the Egyptian military exposed one such 2.5-kilometer-long tunnel. At the Gazoo border with Egypt, Hamas uses a large workforce along with bulldozers and tractors to dig tunnels, with work occasionally taking place right under the noses of Egyptian soldiers.

In the smuggling efforts from Sinai to Gazoo, bigwigs from the Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
also play a role, working closely with Hamas military leaders in the southern Strip. The man in charge of coordination between IS and Hamas is Abd al-Rahman Barhame, who is in Gazoo as a guest of Hamas’s military wing.

Other Islamic State officials responsible for coordination with Hamas also reside in the coastal enclave, preserving the ties between the two terror groups despite Egypt’s objections, largely without informing the Hamas politicianship of these activities.

World Vision fires 120 in Gaza as Israel freezes funds over Hamas accusations

[IsraelTimes] Charity says it can no longer pay salaries; director in Strip is charged with siphoning millions to terror group

The charity has headquarters in Washington State and the United Kingdom, and works in nearly 100 countries. With a budget of approximately $2.6 billion and nearly 50,000 employees, it is one of the largest US-based relief organizations and has operated in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza since the 1970s.

The governments of Britain, Germany and Australia suspended their donations to the charity over the allegations by Israel.
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  Against my will.

Until I don't see a lot of fat Paleostinians, I would be cutting that budget.
Posted by: gorb   2016-09-10 11:48  

#1  Your tax $ at work.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-09-10 05:55  

00:00