A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday presented a solution calling for an investigation into “whether cryptocurrencies were exchanged between Hamas and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. “
Rep. Tim Burchett’s (R-TN) solution, which is expected to pass either house of Congress, would instruct the Treasury and State Departments to read into how Hamas, which has joined other Palestinian terrorist factions depending of blockchain technology, uses cryptocurrencies to bring its operations to life. The settlement comes days after the Washington Examiner first reported that an Israeli company called Lionsgate Network was investigating virtual wallets maintained through UNRWA, whose since-fired workers have been accused through Israel of participating in the massacre led by Hamas on October 7. leading the United States and other countries to suspend aid to UNRWA.
“We are sending our taxpayers’ coins to the United Nations,” Burchett said in a statement. “We want to be sure that not a single penny ends up in the hands of terrorists, whether it’s resources, currencies or cryptocurrencies. These dark currencies will have to be exposed and the U. S. will also have to permanently suspend investment in this agency. “
Since 2021, the Biden administration has delivered at least $730 million in aid to the UNRWA, an agency formed in 1949 that has long earned the ire of foreign policy experts and lawmakers over its ties to Hamas. In 2018, the Trump administration paused aid to the UNRWA, which has been under the spotlight since Oct. 7, particularly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken called allegations that the agency’s staffers participated in the attack “highly credible.”
Hamas has increasingly turned to crypto in recent years, though Lionsgate Network recently helped Israeli authorities claw back $90 million of digital funds connected to the terrorist group. The Tel Aviv-based firm is now investigating crypto donations to the UNRWA’s 501(c)(3) charity in the U.S., the Washington Examiner reported. Still, Hamas has access to some $40 million going in and out of crypto wallets, which store investors’ assets and private information, according to Lionsgate.
“Our company’s vision is to protect crypto transactions and eliminate monetary transactions targeting communities around the world,” said Bezalel Raviv, CEO of Lionsgate Network. “There is a failure in the monetary system and it is no longer a very small organization of people. This is 1. 5% of world capital: we are talking about more than 1. 5 trillion dollars. “
Burchett’s request for a federal investigation into Hamas’s use of cryptocurrency comes after the U.S. issued sanctions on Oct. 18, 2023, against the Gaza-based Buy Cash, a company that saw its wallets seized by Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing in 2021 “in connection to a Hamas fundraising campaign,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Lionsgate is in contact with the U. S. State Department about its plans, Rapiv said.
The issue of Hamas’ possible access to UNRWA’s crypto wallets is also on the radar of other lawmakers.
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“Anyone who budgets for Hamas terrorists won’t get a penny of American taxpayers’ money,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) posted last week in X, along with a link to the Washington Examiner’s recent article on Lionsgate. delay cancelling the investment of the @UNRWA. ‘
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to Ernst: “Totally agree. “