Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday revealed that Israel has seized digital wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, confiscating millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), Gallant said the operation several days ago was the first of its kind against cryptocurrency assets linked to the IRGC and Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...’s Hezbollah terror group. Israel in the past has seized dozens of digital wallets linked to the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terror group.
"A few days ago, an extensive and precedent-setting operation — to expose a route for financing terror with digital currencies — was wrapped up. This is the first incident of this magnitude, in which an infrastructure led by Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds Force that transferred millions of dollars to be used by terror elements was thwarted," Gallant said.
He added that since the beginning of the year, members of Hezbollah, the IRGC’s Quds Force, and "Syrian elements" have used cryptocurrency to fund their daily activities. The funding comes from a third party, and is handed over to the terror groups via money exchangers, Gallant said.
"Whoever finances terror, or maintains a financial relationship with terror operatives, must know that he is a target, just like anyone who directs terrorism," he warned, noting Iran’s involvement.
"As you can see, this time too there is a clear line behind the terror [financing] moves that originate in Iran. Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
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Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
is the financier, trainer, and spreader of terrorism against Israel and many countries around the world, both directly and through its proxies at the borders," Gallant said.
He said NBCTF had developed new tools with the Mossad spy agency, the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, the Israel Police, and other bodies, in order to combat financing of terror groups using cryptocurrency.
"I issued an order that allowed the seizure of the funds, their confiscation, and the transfer of the money to the treasury of the State of Israel. In doing so, we have actually cut off the flow of terror funds along this route," Gallant said.
In May it was reported that Israel seized 189 cryptocurrency accounts on the Binance exchange site linked to Paleostinian and Islamist terror groups since 2021.
Cryptocurrencies ostensibly provide a high level of anonymity, making them particularly attractive for financing criminal activity or terrorism. Bitcoin has also faced criticism over the use of the currency on underground websites where people buy drugs and guns.