Fischer in Hamas' service

Op-ed: Time has come to put end to Bank of Israel fund transfers to Gaza Strip murderers

Orna Shimoni|Published: 10.21.10 , 17:08

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, who was honored as the world's best bank governor, is the main party who exerts pressure in favor of fund transfers to Hamas. He is the one who saved the terror group from collapsing, continues to rehabilitate it, and also prevents the collapse of Gaza Strip banks.

The dollars transferred to Gaza by Fischer are used to murder us. With our own hands, we facilitate the killing of our sons, through the ceaseless transfer of cash to the Hamas state.

Ever since the organization took over Gaza in 2007, billions of dollars have been transferred to the Strip. About 80% of this cash is handed over to the terror group's leadership in order to finance its arms smuggling operations. These funds, some of which are transferred to Gaza legally, via bank transfers, enable the Hamas government to pay its monthly salaries.

After all, training and educating martyrs, running Qassam production lines, or testing long-range weapons isn't cheap. Who knows what else is being hidden in Gaza's weapons warehouses. Yet the State of Israel, under Fischer's pressure, continues to let the money which finances this system pour into Gaza uninterruptedly.

We keep on hearing the regular excuses: After all, this isn't our money, we must hand it over, and so on. Yet the most prevalent excuse is also the most dangerous one: Stopping fund-transfers to Gaza is illegal.

Is Gaza a friendly country?

Stanley Fischer, the world's best bank governor, I have some questions for you: Is it legal to bomb Gaza-region communities for 11 years now? Is it legal to sow fear among Sderot's residents and fire Qassams at children playing in their backyard? Is it legal to ignore the fact that UNWRA funds handed over by Israel are used by Hamas and its killers? Is it legal to send our sons to fight an enemy whose weapons we supplied? Does the law really require Israel to transfer funds to Gaza?

Israel has already designated Gaza as a hostile terror entity, so why do we keep working vis-à-vis Gaza's banking system? Is Gaza a friendly country? Fischer already announced, back in 2006, that he will only hand over funds to Gaza as long as Hamas adheres to understandings with Israel. So why does he keep on pouring money into the Strip, despite rockets being fired at Israel all the time?

I cannot understand the silence of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who approves fund-transfers to Gaza; I also cannot understand the silence of Foreign Ministry officials, and the silence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When asked about the Gilad Shalit swap, I say that we already have a readily available weapon against Hamas: Terminating its cash supply.

So I'm urging the world's best bank governor: Stop the fund-transfers to Hamas. Yours and Israel's economy would not be boosted via the blood of our sons.