CFI has condemned Hamas and called for stricter oversight of aid by the Department for International Development (DfID), following the news that a senior official from the international charity World Vision has been arrested in Israel for allegedly transferring tens of millions of dollars to the proscribed terror group Hamas.
Israel’s Shin Bet security service has reported that in 2005, Hamas sent trained operative Mohammed El-Halabi to infiltrate World Vision, where he used his position as director of the charity’s Gaza Branch to divert 60% of its budget to Hamas.
World Vision is supported by the UN, EU, and governments around the world, including the UK. Some £27 million funding has reportedly been given to World Vision by DfID.
CFI’s Parliamentary Chairman, Rt. Hon. Sir Eric Pickles MP, CFI’s Honorary President, Lord Stuart Polak CBE and CFI’s Executive Director, James Gurd said:
“The misappropriation and abuse of international aid is the latest demonstration of Hamas’s contempt of its own people. Instead of building schools and hospitals, Hamas continues to build terror tunnels and rearms in preparation for another attack on Israel.
“Faced with such gross abuses by an international terror group, we appeal to new Secretary of State, Priti Patel, to ensure that DfID exercises far stricter oversight of aid given to Palestinian organisations, to ensure it reaches projects that work for peace rather than hate. Both the British taxpayer and Palestinian residents have been badly let down”.
