Israel Seizes Millions In Digital Currencies Meant For Iranian Proxies
Israel has seized millions of dollars worth of digital funds intended for use by Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Quds Force arm of the Revolutionary Guards.
Israel has seized millions of dollars worth of digital funds intended for use by Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Quds Force arm of the Revolutionary Guards.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made the announcement on Tuesday, revealing that Israel has seized digital wallets linked to IRGC and Hezbollah.
His ministry said that since the start of this year, "Hezbollah, Quds Force (IRGC’s extraterritorial force) and Syrian operatives have used digital currencies to receive funds from third parties via illegal transactions”.The Defense Ministry said it had also thwarted the transfer of millions of dollars to these operatives.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), Gallant said, “I issued an order that enabled the confiscation of said funds, as well as their transfer to the State of Israel. In doing so, we have effectively cut off the flow of terror funds via this channel.”
“A few days ago, an extensive and precedent-setting operation — to expose a route for financing terror with digital currencies — was wrapped up. This is the first incident of this magnitude, in which an infrastructure led by Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds Force that transferred millions of dollars to be used by terror elements was thwarted,” he added.
He said that the NBCTF developed new tools with the Mossad spy agency, the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, the Israel Police, and other bodies, in order to combat financing of terror groups using cryptocurrency.
Noting Iran’s involvement, he said, “Whoever finances terror, or maintains a financial relationship with terror operatives, must know that he is a target, just like anyone who directs terrorism."
“As you can see, this time too there is a clear line behind the terror [financing] moves that originate in Iran. Iran is the financier, trainer, and spreader of terrorism against Israel and many countries around the world, both directly and through its proxies at the borders,” Gallant said.
“There is a small minority who abuse their position and tarnish the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the people,” Khamenei said in a revealing meeting with judiciary officials Tuesday.
He called on authorities to fight corruption within the judicial system and warned that "corruption is contagious". He said: "When corruption enters a system, this disease spreads. It is increasing day by day."
Khamenei said the media is partially to blame, tarnishing the judiciary's reputation further, refusing to acknowledge the heavy-handed and brutal punishments it has been handing down to civilians since the protests began in September in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in morality police custody.
Khamenei's words contradict the fact that he controls the religious judiciary that is only accountable to him and plays the role of both prosecutor and judge. The courts in Iran are not independent, but part of the large bureaucracy known as the Judiciary, whose head is appointed by the Supreme Leader,
As “one of the main pillars in the establishment of the Islamic republic,” he said instability in the judiciary can lead to disruptions in the entire regime as he urged his inner circle to tighten up the flailing system.
Political pundit Rouhollah Rahimpour told Iran International that the main duty of the judiciary has become defending the regime against the people and cracking down any voice of dissent.
He called the distrust of the judiciary a natural consequence "when the judicial system does not pursue justice" and only works as a tool in the hands of the regime to stifle criticism and quash protests.
The regime used overwhelming force with military weapons in its crackdown on the protests since September, killing more than 500 civilians and arresting tens of thousands more. Hundreds of other protestors suffered hospitalization and permanent injuries, including the loss of eyes when shotgun pellets were fired at the faces of demonstrators.
After the wave of nationwide protests which has still yet to subside, the Iranian regime has embarked on a wave of executions which has seen dozens of prisoners hanged this year.
Iran's Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei claimed Monday that scores of Iranians only took part in protests due to foreign influence, undermining the strength of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement which has seen hundreds of thousands of Iranians calling for the end of the brutal dictatorship.
The PIJ has established several armed cells and recruited dozens of gunmen in the northern West Bank, specifically in Jenin and Nablus. “The PIJ has become a dominant force in the northern West Bank, largely thanks to the financial aid it receives from Iran," a source told Israel's Jerusalem Post. “Islamic Jihad is using Iranian money to buy weapons and loyalty in the West Bank [and] the organization is paying high salaries to its members.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has stepped up its activity over the last year, largely thanks to extra funding from Tehran, including an incident in April in which dozens of rockets were launched in a cross border attack on Israel from Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. Last August, the PIJ unleashed almost 2,000 rockets and mortars in three days of fighting.
The PIJ, like Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, have become full-fledged Iranian proxies, receiving Iranian funding, training, sophisticated equipment, and, most importantly, Tehran’s instructions on their confrontation with Israel. Last year, then defense minister Benny Gantz claimed that the PIJ was receiving tens of millions of dollars from Tehran. This week the group's leaders met with President Raisi, among others, in a show of force against Israel.
The evolution from guerrilla-terrorist militias to armies results from a long process initiated by Tehran with the active assistance of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The escalating events in recent months have shown the ongoing coordination and consultation among the top leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and PIJ in Beirut, Damascus, and Tehran, with the aim of creating a united front facing Israel from Iran-supported Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank.