Italy detains nine over alleged diversion of Gaza aid funds to Hamas News
Lmperator, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Italy detains nine over alleged diversion of Gaza aid funds to Hamas

ehe Italian authorities on Saturday arrested nine individuals on suspicion of raising more than €7 million for Hamas by misrepresenting the funds as humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. The arrests follow a counter-terrorism and financial crimes investigation jointly conducted by Italy’s anti-terror police and Guardia di Finanza, launched shortly after the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

In a statement, police reported uncovering a “complex fundraising system” headquartered in Genoa with operational links in Milan. The funds were allegedly collected through three pro-Palestinian associations that publicly sought donations for medical and social support for civilians in Gaza. Investigators say, however, that financial tracing revealed that over 71 percent of the collected funds were diverted to entities linked to Hamas. The same included the militant group’s military wing and families of individuals involved in suicide bombings or imprisoned for terrorism-related offenses.

Authorities also seized more than €8 million in assets and issued international arrest warrants for two additional suspects currently outside Italy.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi noted the scale of the operation in a post on X, stating that the arrests lifted the veil on activities which, under the guise of humanitarian initiatives, concealed support for terrorist organizations, while also recognizing the constitutional presumption of innocence at this stage.

If confirmed, the case may raise wider questions regarding the oversight of humanitarian fundraising channels in Europe amidst the ongoing scrutiny of terrorism-financing risks following the Israel-Hamas war. However, the proceedings are ongoing, and formal charges have yet to be adjudicated in court.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.