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How Israelis Finance Global Terrorism
Are Israel and Iran similar?
At least at first glance, they seem to be very similar. Iran is considered one of the leading state financiers of global terrorism, and Israel could soon find itself on the same list.
No, it’s not a joke. That was the clear warning that was issued this week in a report by Israel’s Justice Ministry.
“If it’s decided that the country has not demonstrated sufficient progress, Israel is liable to be subject to increased oversight and ultimately even to be added to the list of countries that are not cooperating with the international requirements in the field of the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.” That, in black and white, appears in a current official Israeli government document.
How did we become financiers of terrorism?
As usual, it is due to the criminal negligence with which the state is run. In short, shoddily. In the current instance, it’s a case of particularly shocking shoddiness and not just because Israel could become a sort of outcast nation in the view of the international community. It’s shocking shoddiness because it involves the primary infrastructure that finances all the organized crime in Israel, and the Israel Police have known this for years. It’s the main weak spot exploited by tax evaders, and the Israel Tax Authority has known this for years. It’s a market that attracts the most disadvantaged segments of Israeli society, those invisible people whom the state has neglected and abandoned to the less-than-tender mercies of the country’s family-run organized crime rings.
The government is aware of this, but simply doesn’t care. That is, until international agencies threatened to declare Israel a country that finances terrorism.
The market that I am referring to is the “gray market” — that unregulated segment of the financial sector. This week’s Justice Ministry recommendations were released by a team, headed by Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht, that was appointed to examine the regulation of currency service providers.
Source: www.haaretz.com