Israeli law enforcement has partnered with British police to freeze a Barclays bank account that was linked to fundraising efforts for the terrorist group Hamas. The Israeli police took action on October 11 after Hamas shared account details in an effort to solicit more donations, according to Reuters.
The move comes after a report from the U.S. Treasury Department revealed that most terrorist organizations primarily rely on the traditional financial system to move their funds. However, the report also speculated that as digital assets gain popularity among the general public, terror groups could increasingly attempt to solicit donations in the form of digital assets.
In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Hamas raised approximately $41 million in cryptocurrency between August 2021 and June 2023. However, Jeff John Roberts, a crypto editor at Fortune, emphasized that Hamas's crypto funding is a relatively small portion of its total funds compared to the funding it receives from sponsors like Iran. Roberts also criticized the WSJ for not highlighting the fact that Hamas recently stopped fundraising through bitcoin due to law enforcement agencies successfully tracing the transactions to Hamas members. He pointed out that crypto is a bad tool for terrorist funding because of its traceability and suggested that if crypto were not an option, Hamas would have acquired the $41 million through other means, such as "shady bank accounts" or pallets of cash.
The freeze of the Barclays bank account is part of ongoing efforts to combat terrorist financing and disrupt Hamas's funding activities.