US Treasury Sanctions Hamas-Linked People and Entities

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Facts

  • The US Treasury Department announced Wednesday sanctions on a group of 10 alleged members and financial facilitators of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to its deadly Oct. 7 offensive on Israel, blocking their access to funds held in the US and preventing them from doing business with American people and firms.1
  • These freshly imposed sanctions target individuals based in Gaza, Algeria, Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey allegedly involved in the group's secret $500M investment portfolio and a Gaza-based cryptocurrency exchange and its owner.2
  • Among those hit are two senior Hamas operatives, Qatar-based Muhammad Ahmad 'Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah and Ayman Nofal, who is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Gaza on Tuesday.3
  • According to the Treasury Department, this move is designed to curb the revenue Hamas earns from multiple businesses that are allegedly worth millions of dollars. Further sanctions on the US-designated terrorist group are reportedly expected in the coming days.4
  • This latest round of sanctions, which also struck the Iranian missile program and other allegedly Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah, comes as Pres. Biden arrived in the Middle East to meet Israeli officials. He was set to also meet with Palestinian leaders in Jordan, but those plans have collapsed after Hamas blamed Israel for an airstrike that hit a hospital in Gaza.5
  • Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian urged members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to immediately impose an oil embargo and other sanctions on Israel as well as expel all Israeli ambassadors over the explosion, which the Israeli military claims to have been caused by an errant Palestinian rocket.6

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2The Wall Street Journal, 3CNN, 4Forbes, 5FOX News and 6Al Jazeera.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by VOA. Hamas is a terrorist group that has carried out a brutal and unscrupulous massacre of Israeli civilians, so the US must do whatever it can to deny these terrorists the ability to raise funds for their goal of terrorizing the Israeli people. These sanctions will help disrupt the group's funding for further attacks.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. Western powers may talk about international law, national sovereignty, and human rights, but all they care about is exploiting other nations — and sanctions are merely a tool to do this. It's outrageous that the US, which has largely remained silent on Israeli actions against those struggling under occupation in the besieged Gaza, picks and chooses when to adhere to its 'rules-based' order.

Predictions