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A prestigious Arab magazine estimates that the number two of Hamas, Musa Abu Marzouk, has a fortune of two or three billion dollars, while former political leader Khaled Mashal controls four billion, as does Haniyeh himself...
In 2019, Hamas suffered one of the most serious defections in its more than 20-year history: Suheib Yousef, a member based in Turkey, fled and contacted the Israeli television network Channel 12 to tell his story. Yousef was not just a militant. He is the son of one of the seven founders of the movement, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and upon reaching an unknown place in Asia, he gave a devastating interview.
It showed the corruption of Hamas leaders abroad and their channels of enrichment. He said one of the tasks of Hamas agents in Turkey was to spy on Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and various Arab countries, but not for political purposes. "They worked for foreign interests. They sell information to Iran in exchange for financial support," revealed 38-year-old Yousef.
A forgotten reality
It was a look - not the first - at a dimension of the Islamic movement that seems forgotten at the moment. Corruption in the Hamas leadership is endemic, with the Arab media itself accusing key leaders of becoming millionaires or billionaires thanks to their power over Gaza.
Of course, the children of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who has been living in the comfort of Doha since 2020, have managed to get out of Gaza with ease in the last two years and now lead the lives of wealthy businessmen. This is the case of Hazem Haniyeh, the son of the movement's political leader, whose authorized exit from Gaza in July 2022 sparked protests on social media among ordinary people trapped in the territory. An activist named Mahamoud Nashean posted a selfie wearing a black glove, smiling wryly; a reference to a famous speech by Haniyeh in 2009, when the future leader of Hamas said: “Our hands are clean. We don't steal, we don't have property, we don't build villas..." .
Real estate empires
A few months later, the Saudi website Elaph.com reported that Maaz Haniyeh, another of the leader's sons, had obtained a Turkish passport and would manage the family's vast real estate holdings from Istanbul. Furthermore, Hamas's relationship with Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains close, as can be seen from the Turkish president's defense of the movement in recent days.
It is difficult to estimate the fortunes of the people who were elected in 2006 but have since ruled by force over the Palestinians of Gaza. Al-Majalla, a prestigious Arabic magazine, estimates that Hamas number two Musa Abu Marzouk has a fortune of two or three billion dollars, while former political leader Khaled Mashal controls four billion, as does Haniyeh himself.
These are allegations that are impossible to verify, but there is no lack of evidence of systemic corruption in Gaza. Not least because these men control the flow of aid from countries like Qatar, Iran and Muslim communities around the world.
"Resignation"
One source of enrichment would be a tax on any products smuggled through the tunnels to the trapped population in Gaza.
"Hamas leaders live abroad in elegant hotels and luxury skyscrapers - denounced Suheib Yousef, the repentant militant son of a Hamas founder. I call on the leaders, including my father, to resign from this corrupt movement. I'm sure he also knows how things are." Even Benjamin Netanyahu has known this for years. But nothing better for him than to have millions of Palestinians ruled by a handful of criminals, ready to rob their people and expose them as a human shield behind which to hide rocket launchers. Only in this way can the Prime Minister of Israel continue to ignore the pain of Palestinians trapped in Hamas. / Pamphlet
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