Finance & economics | The sinews of war

Inside Hamas’s sprawling financial empire

Why Israel is powerless to dismantle the group’s finances

A stack of coins turning into a bullet
Illustration: Carl Godfrey
|Istanbul

Viewed from one of Istanbul’s glitziest restaurants, the Bosporus looks sublime. The venue is a favoured haunt of mandarins, businessmen, minor celebrities—and Hamas’s financiers. A man on whom America has imposed sanctions for funding the Islamist group describes his various board seats. “It’s ridiculous,” he says of America’s accusation. Eventually, though, comes an admission. “Now, if you’re asking what our employees do with their own money, why would I know?”

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The sinews of war”

From the November 25th 2023 edition

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