Amira Hass : Israel's allegations against World Vision: Credible charges or political ploy? -
On Monday the
international aid organization World Vision said that the total budget
for its Gaza Strip branch during the last 10 years is much smaller than the sums Israel's Shin Bet security service claims were transferred to Hamas.
But even before this statement was made, people working in humanitarian
aid organizations, and associates and relatives of the detained World
Vision employee, Mohammed Halabi, commented that the accusations are
unreasonable.
The
indictment against Halabi describes a sophisticated, far-sighted scheme
involving the planting of a person within the organization, with the
aim of misappropriating funds and materials, and passing them on to the
military wing of Hamas. To accomplish this, Halabi would have had to
overcome World Vision's meticulous and centralized system of allocating
money and equipment, contracting suppliers and the regular oversight of
accountants. He also would have had to evade the main office of his
organization, in East Jerusalem. Workers at other aid organizations are
familiar with this well-organized system, and therefore they have cast
doubt on the Shin Bet's statements.
In
conversations with Haaretz, Palestinian sources have noted two factors
which they believe led to the apparently exaggerated and baseless
charges against Halabi. The first involved a former employee of World
Vision who was fired because he was simultaneously receiving a salary
from the Palestinian Authority. He apparently bore a grudge against
Halabi because he was fired, and sent the organization a complaint
against Halabi that was subsequently examined. However, the man’s claims
were found to be untrue.
Recently
it was learned that the complainant sold his home in the Strip and
moved to Egypt. Is there a connection between the sale of the house and
move to Egypt, and the complaint? Did details of the complaint somehow
reach the Shin Bet? There are a number of people in Gaza who assume such
a connection exists.
The second factor: Halabi was detained for days in a room with asafir
– Palestinians collaborators with the Shin Bet, who impersonate
detainees for security reasons. He had a hard time dealing with their
pressure and abusive methods, Haaretz has learned, and intentionally
“confessed” to things that were impossible: for example, transfer of
sums of money that would have been inappropriate in terms of the overall
budget of the branch in Gaza where he worked and his responsibilities.
The
charge-sheet itself is vague and does not mention the precise amount
Halabi is suspected of transferring for the benefit of Hamas. The
estimated “tens of millions of dollars” or sums of $7.5 million that he
supposedly transferred annually from World Vision to the Islamist
organization were mentioned only in reports in the Israeli media,
probably following verbal briefings by Israeli officials.
According
to World Vision’s announcement on Monday, over the past 10 years the
total budget for the activities of the group’s branch in the Strip was
$22.5 million.
From
2006 until 2014, Halabi was manager of operations for the northern
branch of the charity in Gaza, which was smaller than the southern
branch – as was its budget. During those years, however, he did not have
access to money (one of the charges is that during 2012 and 2013, he
allegedly transferred tens of thousands of dollars of the organization’s
funds, in cash, to Hamas' military activists).
In
late 2014, the two branches were combined and Halabi was named director
of World Vision’s operations in the Strip. In this position, too, he
would not have been able to choose suppliers on his own (as was implied
in one of the clauses of the indictment). The latter are chosen by a
committee of World Vision executives and officials, and final decisions
are drafted and signed in the central office in Jerusalem.
The
contracts that the Gaza manager is allowed to sign are also for small
amounts, and must be determined within the framework of the projects and
budget set in advance in the Jerusalem headquarters.
The
presentation of the charges against Halabi as a given fact – as though
he is already guilty – by means of a massive media campaign in Israel,
has raised suspicions among employees of international relief
organizations that the goal is political: to weaken them all as voices
critical of Israeli policies.
For
example, the Israel Defense Forces’ coordinator of government
activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, wrote last
Sunday that “after a long investigation, we discovered that Hamas is
systematically using the money that world nations transfer to support
the activities of international groups, such as the international
organization World Vision in the Gaza Strip.” In other words: He is
generalizing and casting suspicions on all such aid organizations.
That
is why Robert Piper, the United Nations’ coordinator for humanitarian
aid and development activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,
said on Monday in a press release that the Shin Bet’s accusations “raise
serious concerns for humanitarian organizations working in Gaza.”
“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
organization’s donors. Everyone would pay a high price for such acts –
beneficiaries and the wider aid effort alike. If proven by a due legal
process, these actions deserve unreserved condemnation; Gaza’s
demoralized and vulnerable citizens deserve so much better,” said Piper
in his statement.
“We
now need to wait for the legal process to take its course,” he added.
“Mr. Halabi is entitled to his right to a fair trial. International
human rights law requires the process to be prompt, thorough,
independent, impartial and transparent.”
It
would be appropriate for those involved in that legal process to
remember that despite all efforts, in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, no
international humanitarian group can work without some contacts with
that Islamist organization. Among the many who need aid in the Strip,
there are also Hamas supporters. But it is forbidden for the relief
groups to differentiate between these supporters and other citizens,
when it comes to providing food supplies, initiating agricultural
projects or offering psycho-social treatment to children suffering from
war trauma.
Presentation
of the charges as a given fact, against the employee of an
international aid organization, for passing funds to Hamas, raises
suspicions that the goal is to…
haaretz.com
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