In case you didn’t yet read Elena Chachko’s article on Lawfare (“Gaza Aid Workers, Hamas, and the Immunity of UN Officials“) yet (I’ve referenced it here and here), I note she also quickly references a problem NGOs face when hiring local personnel – diversion of funds:
On August 4, Israel announced that it had indicted Mohammed al-Halabi, the head of the Gaza branch of the international NGO World Vision, for diverting tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid funds to support Hamas’ military activities (see also here). According to the indictment and the statement of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), al-Halabi is a longtime Hamas operative, who infiltrated World Vision in 2005 with the aim of exploiting the organization’s resources to assist Hamas.
During his interrogation, al-Halabi admitted that 60% of the annual budget allocated by World Vision to the Gaza branch for humanitarian work was re-routed to Hamas’ military organs. In addition, al-Halabi has transferred a variety of goods ordered for World Vision directly to Hamas, including materials and equipment used in the construction of Hamas strongholds and underground “terror tunnels.” The indictment makes clear that al-Halabi was well aware of the fact that he was cooperating with Hamas, and mentions incidents in which he had trained with Hamas and provided information about the Israeli side of the border. According to the ISA statement, as a result of al-Halabi’s actions, the vast majority of World Vision humanitarian aid in Gaza was allocated to Hamas operatives and their families, while the rest of Gaza’s population hardly received any aid at all. Al-Halabi’s trial began on Tuesday, and it is not open to the public.
AL-Monitor adds some concrete numbers:
This equated to $7.2 million per year, including about $1.5 million given in cash to Hamas combat un its [sic].
World Vision, which employs tens of thousands of people globally, said its programmes were subject to “regular internal and independent audits, independent evaluations” to avoid aid misuse.
According to The Days of Palestine (amongst others), World Vision disputes Israel’s story:
Funny, how could Hamas penetrate into this American organisation and plant its members deep inside and they become managers?
Believing this Israeli heresy will lead us to discover in the very near future that the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon is a Hamas operative and he funnelled all the UN funds to this Palestinian group.
Anyway, World Vision condemned the Israeli detention of its manager in Gaza and called for all people to pray for him and his family.
It also called on the Israeli authorities to release him or allow him access to legal support. “We also call on authorities to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and proceed fairly and objectively on the presumption of innocence,” World Vision said in a statement.
World Vision described Al-Halabi as “widely respected and well regarded humanitarian, field manager and trusted colleague of over a decade.”
It also said: “He has displayed compassionate leadership on behalf of the children and communities of Gaza through difficult and challenging times, and has always worked diligently and professionally in fulfilling his duties.”
Interestingly, I was unable to find any mention of this incident on the World Vision web site.
