Israeli police, in collaboration with cybercrime unit Lahav 433, have reportedly succeeded in freezing Hamas-linked crypto accounts on the Binance platform. The operation was reportedly carried out in response to a crypto fundraising campaign launched by Hamas.
Binance works in collaboration with Israeli police
As war rages in the Middle East, pitting the Palestinian Hamas movement against Israel, local daily Calcalist reports that Israeli police have managed to freeze Hamas-affiliated crypto accounts on cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.
Lahav 433, a specialized cybercrime unit often regarded as Israel’s FBI, is working in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s National Economic Counter-Terrorism Headquarters (MTL), the Israeli Intelligence Service (Shabak) and other agencies to track down crypto accounts belonging to or linked to Hamas.
According to the release, Hamas has been making calls for donations in cryptocurrencies, and Israeli police have been confiscating these with the help of Binance:
“With the outbreak of war, Hamas launched a fundraising campaign on social networks and asked the public to deposit cryptocurrencies into its account. […] The Cyber Unit and MTL acted immediately to locate the accounts and freeze them, with the help of the crypto exchange Binance in order to transfer the funds to the [Israeli] Treasury. “
Preview of a donation request made by Hamas
In an e-mail to CoinDesk, a Binance spokesperson confirmed the facts:
“Over the past few days, our team has been working in real time, around the clock, to support efforts to combat terrorist financing. We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of not only the blockchain ecosystem, but also the global community, through our proactive work. “
In parallel, Lahav 433 also worked in cooperation with the British police to freeze an account hosted at Barclays bank in the UK, a priori directly used by Hamas.
Back in May, the Israeli authorities announced the seizure of some 200 Binance accounts affiliated to Hamas. The documents transmitted explained that the move was aimed at “thwarting the activity of the Islamic State (ISIS) and compromising its ability to pursue its objectives”, but did not explain how the accounts in question were affiliated with Hamas.
