Doc's Talk: Making Smugglers Pay: Underwriting Egyptian Border Security

Monday, April 13, 2009

Making Smugglers Pay: Underwriting Egyptian Border Security

Matthew Levitt and Becca Wasser
April 13, 2009

This past weekend, Egyptian police detained a man who was transporting $2 million dollars to North Sinai to be smuggled to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This came on the heels of two separate attempts by Hamas to smuggle nearly $10 million dollars from Egypt into the Strip. This was not their first attempt to transfer a large amount of cash into Gaza, nor will it likely be the last. The United States should encourage the Egyptians to crack down on the organization's bulk cash smuggling more effectively and push Cairo to develop an asset forfeiture regime, using funds seized under this program to finance more-robust law enforcement efforts along the border. European and American programs aimed at combating bulk cash smuggling offer a useful example for a similar Egyptian initiative.

Bulk Cash Smuggling into Gaza

Since the armed takeover of Gaza in 2007, the international community has put in place broad sanctions prohibiting financial support for Hamas. To circumvent these economic sanctions, Hamas has frequently turned to bulk cash smuggling to obtain necessary funds. In February 2009, for example, following the Gaza conflict, Egyptian border police caught Hamas officials attempting to smuggle suitcases holding around $9 million in cash into the Strip. The following month, Hamas officials returning from reconciliation talks in Egypt attempted to smuggle $850,000 in cash hidden in candy tins. Both cases were clearly in violation of Egypt's prohibition on persons leaving its borders carrying more than $10,000 in undeclared cash.

While these efforts were thwarted, Hamas has succeeded on many other occasions. According to Palestinian officials, in June 2006, former Palestinian foreign minister and Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar successfully crossed the Egyptian-Gaza border with $20 million in cash stuffed into twelve suitcases. Similarly, in November 2006, two Hamas lawmakers, Mushir al-Masri and Ahmad Bahar, smuggled in more than $4 million.

Egyptian police officers, historically underpaid, have accepted bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to weapons smuggling through tunnels into Gaza. Several media reports suggest that Egyptian police stationed at border crossings are more than willing to do the same in regard to cash. The recent seizure of these funds, however, represents an opportunity not only to crack down on illicit financial activity but also to boost the meager salaries of Egyptian border guards and finance their underresourced mission of securing the Egyptian border.

International Efforts to Combat Smuggling

On March 13, 2009, the United States, Canada, and seven European nations agreed to a plan to prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Coming off the heels of a joint U.S.-Israeli agreement in January 2008 to combat weapons smuggling, this plan promotes tactical cooperation to stop, search, and seize ships and other transportation vehicles suspected of transferring weapons to Hamas.

Although these agreements are positive developments, neither specifically addresses the issue of bulk cash smuggling, which is disconcerting because the participating nations have broad experience in combating exactly this issue. For instance, according to the State Department's 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, in September 2008, Germany participated in a multinational customs cash-smuggling enforcement operation that included many European Union and North African countries, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. By the end of the weeklong effort, officials discovered 181 cases of money smuggling and seized 5.5 million euros. Countries with experience in this area, such as the United States and EU members, could help Egypt develop its own efforts to combat the growing industry of bulk cash smuggling into Gaza.

Cooperative Relationships

International efforts to combat smuggling into the Gaza Strip must not focus on the border alone. Both Egypt and Israel have made efforts to hinder weapons smuggling by exposing, blocking, and demolishing smuggling tunnels. This has been relatively ineffective, however, since new tunnels are dug and Egyptian follow-up efforts have been desultory. This, coupled with the high rate of bribery among Egyptian border police, has created an environment ripe for bulk cash and other illicit smuggling.

The United States could adopt several measures to improve Egyptian performance in this area. DHS has developed cooperative relationships with foreign partners aimed at combating the illicit movement of currency. This type of cooperation has proven successful in the past with international partners, and could be effective with the Egyptians as well. Recent U.S.-Israeli custom efforts, for example, have thwarted bulk cash smuggling between the two countries. Under the DHS's "Hands Across the World" initiative, a four-day series of coordinated law enforcement actions resulted in one arrest and two seizures in the United States and fourteen seizures in Israel. Combined, the seizures totaled nearly $500,000 in cash, negotiable checks, gold, and diamonds.

The United States could also encourage the Egyptians to develop an asset forfeiture program to complement its beefed-up efforts to target bulk cash smuggling. The Egyptians could then use seized funds to bolster its law enforcement presence and capabilities at the border. Such asset forfeiture programs have been successful in the United States, where seized assets have long been applied toward the cost of financing government activity. Not only does asset forfeiture act as a high-impact tool to deter and punish criminal activity, it also can help underwrite the costs of such law enforcement activities.

For fiscal year 2008, the net position of the Treasury Departments Forfeiture Fund totaled $427 million. Treasury allocated $90 million to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and $200,000 to foreign countries to strengthen asset forfeiture programs and cover the cost of investigations, operations, and related travel and efforts.

In addition, authorities seize and disburse more than just money to law enforcement agencies. For example, local law enforcement and federal agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency; FBI; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and DHS have received firearms, vehicles, electronic equipment, and other tools to aid them in their daily activities. These seized assets greatly strengthen the ability of these agencies and departments to perform their jobs.

The U.S. asset forfeiture program has been utilized specifically to deter the financing of terrorist groups. In fact, Hamas is fully aware that the proceeds of its illicit activities may be seized. In the United States, the Holy Land Foundation, a charity convicted in November 2008 of material support for funding Hamas, had to forfeit $12.4 million due to money-laundering convictions.

Conclusion

Adopting an asset forfeiture program to systematically prevent bulk cash smuggling along the Gaza border would not only act as a deterrent to potential smugglers, it would also significantly enhance the capabilities and resources of local border police by reducing their susceptibility to bribes. Reducing the success of cash smuggling from Egypt to Gaza would hurt Hamas, striking at the heart of the group's ability to strengthen and arm its terrorist and militia wings.

Matthew Levitt is a senior fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. Becca Wasser is a research assistant at the Institute.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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