The United States sanctions five NGOs that supported Hamas

The US Office of the Treasury's Office of the Under Secretary for the Treasury for the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned five individuals and five institutions labelled by the same organisation as fraudulent for raising money to finance the activities of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine under the pretext of helping the Gaza Strip. 

According to the US Treasury Department, the donors were unaware of the institutions' connection to terrorist groups. As it explained, this is a tactic with a long history of being used by such groups to exploit humanitarian causes in Gaza. 

Treasury Undersecretary Michael Faulkender explained: ‘The Treasury will continue to use all available means to prevent Hamas, the PFLP and other terrorist actors from exploiting the humanitarian situation in Gaza to finance their violent activities at the expense of its people.’ 

The effects of the OFAC sanctions mean that all institutions owned by individuals blocked by Washington must be reported. The United States will impose civil or criminal penalties on anyone who violates the punishment imposed on those on the blacklist. 

The US Treasury Department adds that ‘financial institutions and other persons would be subject to sanctions for engaging in certain transactions or activities related to blocked or designated persons.’ 

The sanctioned organisations are: 

• Al Weam Charitable Society in Palestine. 
• Filistin Vakfi in Turkey. 
• El Baraka Association for Charitable Humanitarian Work in Algeria. 
• Israa Charitable Foundation in the Netherlands. 
• Addameer Association for Human Rights and Support for Palestinian Prisoners 

The individuals added to Washington's blacklist are: 

• The chairman of the board of directors of Al Weam, Mohamed Sami Mohamed Abu Marei. 
• The chairman of Filistin Vakfi, Zeki Abdullah Ibrahim Ararawi. 
• The president of El Baraka, Ahmed Brahimi. 
• The representative of the Israa Amin Foundation, Ghazu Abu Rashed. 
• The representative of the Israa Foundation, Israa Abou Rashed. 

All individuals except Ararawi are members of Hamas. 

This is not the first time that the United States has imposed sanctions on international charities or individuals linked to Hamas and the PFLP. Last year, OFAC blocked Mohamed Hannoun, founder of the La Cupola D'Oro Charitable Association in Italy, for the same reasons. 

Despite the impact of the US Treasury Department's blockades, they are not permanent. As long as the individuals on Washington's blacklist behave in accordance with the law, the organisation is willing to remove them, because ‘the objective of sanctions is not to punish, but to motivate positive change in behaviour’.