The arrest and indictment of Halabi for his alleged crimes will invariably have a awful impact on the willingness of donors to continue to support the organization’s work in Gaza and possibly elsewhere in the world.
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Israel’s arrest of the Gaza director of an evangelical Christian aid group for redirecting millions of dollars in assistance to the militant group Hamas has sent shock waves throughout the Palestinian territories and left many anxious that the incident will jeopardize all charity missions, even as Gaza struggles to recover from a war two years ago.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said he was concerned about a “worrying trend of U.N. exploitation by Hamas”.
“Redirecting relief away from its intended beneficiaries would be a profound betrayal of the trust put in a senior manager by his employer and by the organisation’s donors”, said Robert Piper, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Shin Bet arrested Borsh in July.
“These (allegations) are par for the course of an Israeli plot to restrict the work of worldwide relief agencies operating in Gaza in order to tighten the Gaza blockade”, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
The UNDP is tasked with projects to help the Strip’s inhabitants, including projects to rehabilitate homes damaged in warfare.
The Shin Bet says el-Halabi crafted an elaborate scheme to funnel funds, food, medical supplies and agricultural equipment to Hamas.
Australia and Germany suspended aid to the humanitarian evangelical Christian group World Vision on Friday, amid charges by Israel that the charity’s head in Gaza diverted millions of dollars of funds in Hamas.
Last week, Halabi was charged by ISA with funnelling tens of millions of dollars of aid money to Al-Qassam Brigades, an accusation that the global charity has reiterated is incompatible with the NGO’s Gaza budget. Halabi siphoned off almost $10 million to fund Hamas terror projects, and ferried physical aid – food, blankets, tents, and much more – from the residents of Gaza for whom they were intended, providing them to members of his al-Aqsa gang.
ISRAEL charged a United Nations development worker yesterday with aiding Hamas in Gaza in the latest phase of its crackdown on aid work there.
“We are suspending the provision of further funding to World Vision for programs in the Palestinian Territories until the investigation is complete”, the DFAT said.
World Vision said at the time it was “shocked” to learn of the charges against Mr. Halabi and, based on available information, had no reason to believe the allegations were true.
He also persuaded managers at UNDP to prioritize the rehabilitation of housing in areas populated by Hamas members, the Shin Bet said, and during an investigation confessed to helping Hamas.
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“World Vision’s cumulative operating budget in Gaza for the past 10 years was approximately $22.5 million (£17.3m), which makes the alleged amount of up to $50m being diverted hard to reconcile”.
