According to the Shin Bet security service, Wahid Abd Allah Borsh, 38, an engineer in the UN’s Development Program, both funneled resources to the terrorist group and kept Hamas out of trouble with the global organization.
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The Shin Bet said Borsh used UNDP resources previous year to build a jetty for Hamas’ naval forces and that upon request by Hamas he persuaded his managers to prioritize the reconstruction of houses damaged in conflicts with Israel in areas where Hamas members lived.
“The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is greatly concerned by the allegation from the Israeli authorities”, it said, promising “a thorough internal review of the processes and circumstances surrounding the allegation”.
Shin Bet also claims Borsh persuaded his managers to prioritise areas where Hamas members lived when rebuilding houses damaged in conflicts with Israel. Money was paid as salaries to Hamas militants who were falsely registered as World Vision employees. Mr. Borsh confessed to helping Hamas during an investigation, it added.
After arresting a top official of humanitarian missionary group World Vision for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, the Shin Bet and security forces announced Tuesday that they have arrested a United Nations employee for assisting Hamas.
If this is true, it is news, because World Vision has not reported this information to the general public, with good reason.
Nearly immediately after the indictment against the UNDP employee was announced, pro-Israel pressure group “UN Watch” urged action at what it called “the apparently pervasive subversion in Gaza of UN and other global humanitarian aid funds by Hamas”.
The indictment came on the heels of two other cases of Hamas operatives allegedly infiltrating worldwide aid organizations.
Hamas called the claims “baseless”.
One veteran aid worker of a prominent group operating in Gaza said the donor community working in the enclave is “one of the most audited industries in the world” and said that the charges were sparking self-examination across the sector.
Part of it was allegedly used to build attack tunnels from blockaded Gaza into Israel.
In a statement it said they were part of a wider Israeli effort “to tighten the siege of the Gaza Strip by prosecuting global relief organizations”.
Mohammed el-Halabi, World Vision’s Gaza office project manager, was charged last week with funnelling about 60 per cent of the charity’s yearly budget to Hamas.
Israeli authorities have also accused a Gaza-based employee of Save the Children of having been recruited by Halabi to assist the Qassam Brigades.
The president and CEO of World Vision Keith Jenkins says the group is investigating but, on their face, the numbers don’t support the scope of the alleged theft.
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World Vision is a Christian charity active in more than 90 countries with a revenue of United States $2.79bn and around 45,000 staff.
