A senior official of Hamas and a major fundraiser for the terrorist group is living freely in Turkey.
Zaher Jabarin oversees Hamas’ international fundraising and finances, including securing and transporting funds from Iran into Hamas coffers inside the Gaza Strip. Jabarin conducts his business from Turkey, working out of Hamas office space in Istanbul, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Jabarin’s work for Hamas, which the U.S. estimates is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, enabled the terror group to purchase the equipment and supplies necessary to pull off its October 7 invasion of Israel that resulted in the murders of some 1,200 Israelis and the capture of hundreds more.
“Jabarin played a huge role because he handles all of Hamas finance outside Gaza,” former Israeli security official Uzi Shaya told WSJ. “Jabarin is the CEO of Hamas.”
Jabarin denies any ties to terror, claiming that his only work is done for the political side of Hamas, its political party that rules the Gaza Strip. He claims that the Hamas organization’s military side, known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, functions separately. He attributed accusations that he has ties to terror to disinformation from Israel.
“Israel tries to mix apples and oranges,” he told WSJ. “Al-Qassam has its own ties, far away from Hamas the political party.”
The United States placed sanctions on Jabarin in 2019.
“Jabarin has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, HAMAS,” the U.S. Treasury said of Jabarin at the time.
“In his capacity as head of HAMAS’s Finance Department, Jabarin was focused on developing a financial network in Turkey that would allow HAMAS to raise, invest, and launder money prior to transferring it to Gaza and the West Bank,” the notice of sanctions continued. “In recent years, Jabarin has promoted HAMAS’s terrorist activities in the West Bank and Gaza targeting Israel by transferring hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars in the West Bank to finance HAMAS’s terrorist activity. In addition, Jabarin tries to promote business activity and investments to generate revenue for HAMAS.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a vocal supporter of Hamas and Palestinians against Israel. In Turkey, a member country of NATO, massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations have called for genocide against Jews.
“Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine,” demonstrators chanted in a protest at the start of the year, according to the BBC.
Erdogan has said of Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip that it “is not any less than what Hitler did.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the comparison to the Nazi leader, saying, “Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can preach morality to us.”