World Vision worker charged with funding Palestinian terrorists

Israeli prosecutors have charged an employee of World Vision, one of the world’s largest Christian humanitarian groups, with diverting millions in relief funds to terrorists.

Mohammad El Halabi has directed World Vision’s Gaza branch since 2010. But the Israel Securities Authority announced Thursday that Halabi deceived the organization and is actually a major figure within the military arm of Hamas, a Muslim Brotherhood terror group affiliate based in Gaza. Israel claims during the last six years, Halabi took advantage of his position to redirect 60 percent of World Vision’s annual budget in Gaza to Hamas coffers.

Authorities in Israel arrested Halabi on June 15 on suspicion of security offenses and said after six weeks of questioning they discovered Halabi has been a part of the terror group since his youth. Hamas specifically recruited him to infiltrate World Vision and make his way up in leadership to siphon money, prosecutors allege.

World Vision said in a statement today it was “shocked” to hear the charges against Halabi but at this time has no reason to believe any of them are true.

“World Vision subscribes to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality and therefore rejects any involvement in any political, military, or terrorist activities and maintains its independence as a humanitarian aid agency committed to serving the poor, especially children,” the group said in a statement responding to the charges against Halabi. “World Vision has detailed procedures and control mechanisms in place to ensure that the funds entrusted to us are spent in accordance with applicable legal requirements and in ways that do not fuel conflict but rather contribute to peace.”

World Vision added it regularly conducts internal and independent audits and uses a broad range of controls to confirm assets reach intended recipients. It said it will carefully review the evidence and take appropriate action.

In his role at World Vision, Halabi was in charge of tens of millions of dollars in donations, equipment, and aid packages for Gaza. According to Israeli officials, Halabi established fictitious projects to cover the transfer of money and ensure a steady flow of funds to Hamas. Through this mechanism, Halabi allegedly provided Hamas with at least $7.2 million the terror group used to build military bases, purchase weapons, and dig terror tunnels to carry out attacks on communities in southern Israel and Israeli security forces.

Other siphoned funds paid the salaries of Hamas terrorists. Some simply pocketed the money for personal use.

World Vision operates in more than 100 countries, has an annual budget of $2.6 billion, and employs 46,000 people around the world. Its work in Gaza intends to provide safe zones for children reeling from the trauma of war, as well as agricultural projects. The Australian and British government contribute funds to the Gaza branch as well as World Vision offices in several countries, including the United States.

In 2014, World Vision published an interview with Halabi on its website in which he talked about the best parts of his work: “We manage to restore the smiles of children who are severely traumatized by the devastating bombs which killed part or all of their families.”