An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced the former Gaza head of a major US-based aid agency to 12 years in prison for allegedly funneling millions of dollars to Islamist group Hamas.
The Be’er Sheva district court in southern Israel issued a sentence of “12 years prison time, less the detention” already served for World Vision’s Mohammed al-Halabi, who has been jailed throughout the past six years of court proceedings.
Halabi was convicted in June of transferring millions to Hamas, the militant group controlling the Gaza Strip. He has been held under arrest since his detainment in 2016, two years after he was appointed manager of World Vision’s Gaza operations. Over 160 hearings have been held since then.
In a 254-page classified ruling, the District Court noted Halabi’s confession to Israel’s internal security, which he has since withdrawn.
“The defendant’s confession, given in various ways, is detailed, coherent, with signs of truthfulness,” Justice Natan Zlotchover wrote in the decision.
“The defendant relentlessly sought to retract his confession and gave a host of contradictory and unlikely explanations for how he confessed to the charges against him to two different parties.”
Halabi, who hails from Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, and World Vision both reject the charges against him.
{Matzav.com Israel}
World Vision is a Xtian Missionary organization. During the Viet Nam War they fronted for the CIA along with the airline, Air America. They help feed and indoctrinate children where needed while harboring spies and lowlifes throughout the world.