An Israeli court has sentenced the Gaza director of an international charity to 12 years in prison on allegations of funnelling aid money to Hamas, the end of a high-profile case mired in controversy and largely held in secret.
Disregarding UN concerns over a lack of evidence in the six-year case, the district court in the southern city of Beersheba said Mohammad el Halabi, who had been Gaza’s director for World Vision International, would have to serve six years in prison taking into account the deduction of the amount he was held during the trial.
Palestinians, rights groups and aid workers allege the lengthy trial, much of it held behind closed doors, is part of a broad Israeli effort to undermine vital relief and civil society groups in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
World Vision responded that it would continue to back Halabi through an appeal to Israel’s supreme court and warned of a “chilling effect” on aid disbursement due to Israeli actions.
After his arrest in 2016, Israeli authorities alleged Halabi had channelled tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, the militant group that rules the impoverished coastal enclave and is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and western countries. But investigations by his employer, independent auditors and the Australian government, a donor, found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Human Rights Watch condemned the sentencing, saying Halabi had been held for six years based on “secret evidence which multiple investigations rejected, making a mockery of due process”.
In June, Halabi was found guilty of membership to a terrorist organisation, financing terrorist activity “transmitting information to the enemy” and possession of a weapon. He had turned down repeated Israeli offers of a plea bargain that would have enabled him to walk free based on time served, including one just two weeks before the verdict, his lawyer, Maher Hanna said.
Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza City, said behind the proceedings and sentencing was a “systematic Israeli smear campaign against civil society and groups that help the Palestinian people” in the West Bank and Gaza. This, he alleged, can also be seen by its outlawing of six Palestinian civil society groups in the West Bank on the grounds they were fronts for terrorism. EU countries determined that Israel had failed to prove this claim but Israeli forces, undeterred, recently raided and shut their offices in Ramallah.
“Israel tries to defame with charges of terrorism and to cause defunding by donors,” Sourani said.
World Vision, in a statement, said the trial and sentencing would harm efforts to give humanitarian aid to Palestinians. “The arrest, six-year trial, unjust verdict and this sentence are emblematic of actions that hinder humanitarian work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It adds to the chilling impact on World Vision and other aid or development groups working to assist Palestinians.”
The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond directly to the allegations that the trial had lacked due process. In a statement, it said: “Any diversion of humanitarian funds for terrorism purposes is a reprehensible act committed at the expense of the Palestinian residents of Gaza. Israel will continue to use the tools at its disposal to prevent such crimes and to hold Hamas and other terrorist groups accountable for perpetrating them.”
The ministry added that Israel recognised the importance of humanitarian work in Gaza and was committed to working with groups including World Vision “in a manner consistent with security considerations and international standards”.
