PAY ATTENTION TO THE PRESENCE OF SENIOR HAMAS LEADERS IN PAKISTAN IN THE CONTEXT OF TERRORIST FINANCING OPERATIONS

While the fact that the increasingly authoritarian Government of Turkey has given HAMAS safe haven to operate there, which increases the risk that Turkish banks are being used to funnel the proceeds of global fundraising into the treasury of that designated terrorist organization, news about a new Hamas presence in Pakistan, and warlike claims of its leaders at an Islamic conference there raises the spectre that a new terrorist financing pipeline is most likely operating from there. There was a warning last week from Qatari media that all the senior Hamas leadership had left that country, if you were paying attention to detail.

Two senior leaders of Hamas, who appeared at a conference in Pakistan, and made reference to Pakistani nuclear capability as being able to stop Israel's efforts to destroy Hamas' ability to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, should be a wake-up call for compliance officers at international banks whose customers trade with Pakistani companies, for one must expect that new terrorist financing routes into Hamas coffers are being created through there, if they aren't already in existence.  That country's issues , when it comes to supporting sanctioned terrorist organizations, when it deems aiding and abetting them is in their best interests, are legion. Remember when US President George HW Bush gave them the blunt choice after 9/11, to be either friend or foe?

If you think that close monitoring of Pakistani banks from afar will rein them in, and prevent them from assisting Hamas, think again, especially when it comes to bulk cash, especially greenbacks, US Dollars, the favorite hard currency of that terrorist organization. We note that today's news from Gaza, but not appearing in Western media, is the item that the IDF seized a large amount of  cash, at the home of a senior Hamas leader, while searching for terrorist gunmen. How many American banks have new requests from Pakistani financial institutions for an increasing amount of greenbacks we wonder?

Therefore, while everyone is focusing upon Turkey as Hamas' choice for financial assistance, pay close attention to any incicia from Pakistan of transfers or other activities that might support or confirm that terrorist financing is being facilitated from that high-risk jurisdiction.