Tag Archives: Israel

Peres funeral, attended by Obama, briefly brings Israeli, Palestinian leaders together

Still image taken from video of Israeli politician's funeral

By Jeffrey Heller and Jeff Mason

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli and Palestinian leaders shook hands during a brief chat and U.S. President Barack Obama gently reminded them of the “unfinished business of peace” at the funeral Friday of Shimon Peres, the last of a generation of Israel’s founding fathers.

But there was no indication that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s rare visit to Jerusalem and the amiable words he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged would lead to any movement in long-stalled peacemaking.

Peres, a former president and prime minister who died on Wednesday at the age of 93, shared a Nobel Prize for the interim land-for-peace accords he helped reach with the Palestinians as Israel’s foreign minister in the 1990s.

Long-hailed abroad and by supporters in Israel as a visionary, Peres was seen by his critics as an overly optimistic dreamer in the harsh realities of the Middle East.

“I know from my conversations with him, his pursuit of peace was never naive,” Obama said in his eulogy of Peres, who did much in the early part of his 70 years in public life to build up Israel’s powerful military and nuclear weapons capabilities.

With divisions deep over Jewish settlement in Israeli-occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a state, as well as other issues, U.S.-sponsored negotiations on a final agreement between the two sides have been frozen since 2014.

Netanyahu and Abbas have not held face-to-face talks since 2010. Abbas opted to attend Peres’s funeral, making the short drive from nearby Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, through Israeli military checkpoints.

“Long time, long time,” Abbas told Netanyahu and the prime minister’s wife Sara, after shaking his hand before the start of the ceremony held in the “Great Leaders of the Nation” section of Mount Herzl cemetery, overlooking a forested valley.

Welcoming Abbas, as participants recorded the encounter on their mobile phones, Netanyahu said of the Palestinian leader’s attendance: “It’s something that I appreciate very much on behalf of our people and on behalf of us.”

In Israel for just a few hours to pay tribute to Peres, Obama said in the eulogy that Abbas’s “presence here is a gesture and a reminder of the unfinished business of peace”. He was the only speaker to acknowledge Abbas’s presence.

In Gaza, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians rallied after Friday prayers condemning the participation of Palestinian and Arab leaders in the funeral.

FRONT ROW

Abbas was given a front-row seat between European Council President Donald Tusk and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Obama briefly greeted the Palestinian leader with a kiss on each cheek before walking down the line to stand next to Netanyahu.

“Even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointments at the negotiation table, (Peres) insisted that as human beings, Palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to Jews and must therefore be equal in self-determination,” Obama said in his address.

U.S. officials have held open the possibility of Obama making another formal effort to get peace negotiations back on the agenda before he leaves office in January, possibly via a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Netanyahu recalled in his eulogy that he had once argued with Peres, a former leader of the center-left Labour Party, about what was more important for Israel – peace or security.

“Shimon, you said, ‘Bibi: the best security is peace.’ And I said, ‘without security there can be no peace.'”

“And you know what our surprise conclusion was? We are both right… The goal is not power. Power is the vehicle. The goal is existence and co-existence,” Netanyahu said.

Peres, who suffered a stroke two weeks ago, was buried in a Jewish religious ceremony in a plot between two other former prime ministers, Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir. Rabin was assassinated by an ultranationalist Israeli in 1995 over the interim peace deals struck with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“Gone too soon,” one of Peres’s two sons, Yoni, quoted his father as telling him when asked what he wanted as his epitaph.

Amos Oz, the celebrated Israeli author and peace campaigner who was a long-time friend of Peres, said in his eulogy it was time to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. “We must split this house into two apartments,” Oz said. “Where are the brave and wise leaders who will continue his legacy?”

The rulers of Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, in 1979 and 1994, were not in attendance. But the Egyptian foreign minister came and King Abdullah of Jordan sent a telegram of condolences.

Britain’s Prince Charles, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former British leaders David Cameron and Tony Blair also were at the funeral.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Luke Baker and Mark Heinrich)

Thousands of Israelis file past coffin of former president Peres

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton stands with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein next to the flag-draped coffin of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, as he lies in state at the Knesset plaza,

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Thousands of Israelis filed past the flag-draped coffin of Shimon Peres outside parliament on Thursday, honoring the former president and prime minister who won worldwide praise for his efforts in peace talks with the Palestinians.

U.S. President Barack Obama is among foreign dignitaries due to attend the funeral on Friday of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who died on Wednesday at 93, two weeks after a stroke.

But with Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations frozen since 2014, it was unclear whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who sent a condolence letter to Peres’s family, would travel to Jerusalem from nearby Ramallah for the ceremony.

The leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, were not on the roster of participants issued by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

 

An Israeli man lays a wreath near a portrait of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, as a woman photographs nearby, as Peres lies in state at the Knesset plaza, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem

An Israeli man lays a wreath near a portrait of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, as a woman photographs nearby, as Peres lies in state at the Knesset plaza, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem September 29, 2016. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Tens of thousands of people were expected to walk past Peres’s coffin during Thursday’s 12-hour memorial in the parliamentary plaza, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin laid wreaths.

“We came to pay our respects to a wonderful man who we thought would carry on forever,” said Michael Leon, a British-born bank worker. “He was a man with a great dream to bring peace to this region, the new Middle East. Sadly, we have not reached that goal yet but we still carry on with his aims.”

Britain’s Prince Charles, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and French President Francois Hollande were due to attend Peres’s funeral in the “Great Leaders of the Nation” section of Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery.

Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching an interim peace deal in 1993, the Oslo Accords, which however never turned into a lasting treaty.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Israel’s elder statesman, Shimon Peres, dies at 93

A photograph of former Israeli President Shimon Peres is displayed before the start of a special cabinet meeting to mourn the death of Peres, in Jerusalem

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Former Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres, a joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize and an influential figure in Israeli politics for 70 years, died in hospital on Wednesday aged 93, two weeks after suffering a massive stroke.

A convinced campaigner for Middle East peace who remained energetic until his final days, Peres was mourned by world leaders and praised for his tireless engagement.

U.S. President Barack Obama said: “A light has gone out.”

“There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves,” Obama said in a statement. “My friend Shimon was one of those people.”

Despite decades of rivalry with Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger who defeated the then-Labour Party leader in a 1996 election, praised him as a stalwart of the center-left and a visionary.

“There were many things we agreed upon, and the number grew as the years passed. But we had disagreements, a natural part of democratic life,” Netanyahu said after holding a minute’s silence at a specially convened cabinet meeting.

“Shimon won international recognition that spanned the globe. World leaders wanted to be in his proximity and respected him. Along with us, many of them will accompany him on his last journey to eternal rest in the soil of Jerusalem.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement saying he had sent a condolence letter to the family expressing his “sadness and regret” and praising Peres’s “intensive efforts to reach out for a lasting peace … until the last days.”

It was not clear if he would attend Peres’s funeral, which will take place on Friday at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, in a section dedicated to “Great Leaders of the Nation.”

In the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the enclave’s Hamas Islamist rulers, said: “The Palestinian people are happy over the departure of this criminal, who was involved in many crimes and in the bloodshed of the Palestinian people.”

Obama, Britain’s Prince Charles and former U.S. president Bill Clinton are among those expected to attend, Israeli radio reported, although Israel’s Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the attendance list.

French President Francois Hollande also confirmed he would attend, alongside his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

POLITICAL LIFE

The announcement of the death was made at the Tel Hashomer hospital by his son Chemi and son-in-law Rafi Walden.

“His life ended abruptly when he was still working on his great passion, strengthening the country and striving for peace. His legacy will remain with us all,” said Walden, who was also Peres’s personal physician.

Polish-born Peres, whose family moved to then British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s, was part of almost every major political development in Israel since its founding in 1948. He served in a dozen cabinets and was twice prime minister, though he never won a general election, struggling to connect with ordinary voters.

He was first elected to Israel’s parliament in 1959 and barring a brief interlude in early 2006, held his seat for 48
years, until he became president in 2007.

In every role he undertook – from forging Israel’s defense strategy in the 1950s to running his eponymous peace foundation – Peres was known for his energy and enthusiasm, even recording jokey YouTube videos into his 90s.

“Optimists and pessimists die the same way,” he said. “They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.”

He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching an interim peace deal in 1993, the Oslo Accords, which never turned into a lasting treaty.

Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultra-nationalist who opposed the interim accords, and it was
Peres who took over as prime minister after Rabin’s death.

Peres is widely seen as having gained nuclear capabilities for Israel by procuring the Dimona reactor from France while defense ministry director-general in the 1950s.

As defense minister, he oversaw the 1976 Israeli rescue of hijacked Israelis at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

In the Arab world, his legacy is tainted by the 1996 shelling of a United Nations compound in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon during an Israeli offensive. More than 100 civilians sheltering there were killed. Peres was prime minister at the time and Israel said its forces had been aiming at militants firing rockets nearby.

Peres was also seen to have done little to rein in the expansion of Israeli settlements on land captured during the
1967 Middle East war, even if he was not an active proponent of a policy that Obama has described as an obstacle to peace.

From 2007, when he was elected president at the second attempt, Peres played more of a ceremonial role, trying to raise Israel’s profile internationally while advocating for peace through his foundation. He stepped down as president in 2014.

Despite the influence he has had on Israel’s landscape, his death is not expected to have an impact on the already dim prospects for a return to peace talks with the Palestinians.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Writing by Ori Lewis
and Luke Baker; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Trump tells Netanyahu he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu departs after meeting with Republican presidential nominee Trump at Trump Tower in New York

By Alana Wise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Sunday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if elected, the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the campaign said, marking a potential dramatic shift in U.S. policy.

During the meeting that lasted more than an hour at Trump Tower in New York, Trump told Netanyahu that under his administration, the United States would “recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.”

While Israel calls Jerusalem its capital, few other countries accept that, including the United States. Most nations maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, as capital of the state they aim to establish alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu held a separate meeting later on Sunday that lasted just under an hour with Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival in the Nov. 8 U.S. election.

Clinton emphasized her commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and her plan to take the relationship to the next level, according to a statement from her campaign.

She also talked about her commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict “that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity,” according to the statement.

“Secretary Clinton reaffirmed her opposition to any attempt by outside parties to impose a solution, including by the U.N. Security Council,” the statement said.

During the meeting with Trump, the Republican candidate’s campaign said he agreed with Netanyahu that peace in the Middle East could only be achieved when “the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State.”

The Trump campaign said he and Netanyahu discussed “at length” Israel’s border fence, cited by Trump in reference to his own controversial immigration policies, which include building a wall on the U.S.- Mexico border and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country.

Other regional issues, including the fight against Islamic State, U.S. military assistance to Israel – “an excellent investment” – and the Iran nuclear deal, which both parties have criticized, were also discussed.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Conlin in New York and Caren Bohan in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott and Sandra Maler)

Bloomberg: Trump and Netanyahu Discuss Border Fence, Status of Jerusalem

By Ben Brody

Donald Trump “discussed at length Israel’s successful experience with a security fence that helped secure its borders” during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that lasted longer than an hour, according to a statement from the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign.

Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico as way to confront illegal immigration has become a cornerstone of his campaign, although the statement did not say whether he drew direct parallels with Israel’s border fence, which is meant to combat terrorism.

The real estate investor also “acknowledged that Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish People for over 3000 years, and that the United States, under a Trump administration, will finally accept the long-standing Congressional mandate to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel,” his campaign said after Sunday’s meeting.

Read the full article at Bloomberg.com

Assailant shot outside Israeli embassy in Turkey: officials

Riot police near Israeli Embassy in Turkey

By Umit Bektas and Jeffrey Heller

ANKARA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A suspected assailant was shot and wounded near the Israeli embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman and Turkish police said.

“The staff is safe. The attacker was wounded before he reached the embassy,” the spokesman said in a text message. “The assailant was shot and wounded by a local security man.”

Broadcaster CNN Turk said the suspect, whom it described as mentally unstable, had attempted a knife attack.

Turkish police told Reuters the assailant shouted “Allahu akbar”, or “God is Greatest”, outside the embassy before he was shot in the leg.

Police were examining his bag but had so far not attempted to detonate it, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The area outside the embassy had been cordoned off.

The assailant was apprehended at the outer perimeter of the secured zone around the embassy, the Israeli spokesman said.

Private broadcaster NTV identified the suspect as a man from the central city of Konya.

It was not immediately clear if there was a second would-be assailant, but Turkish media reports had initially suggested that there had been two attackers.

Turkey faces multiple security threats, including Islamic State militants, who have been blamed for bombings in Istanbul and elsewhere, and Kurdish militants, following the resumption of a three-decade insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast last year.

(Additional Reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Daren Butler)

Israel defense sector faces big hit after new U.S. aid agreement

Visitors watch a demonstration at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) booth in the IMDEX Asia maritime defence exhibition in Singapore

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s defense industry faces layoffs, closures and a scramble to set up shop in the United States following the signing of a new U.S. military aid package that phases out Israel’s ability to spend a quarter of the funds on its own businesses.

The 10-year, $38 billion agreement, signed on Sept. 15 after a year of negotiations, comes into effect in U.S. fiscal year 2019. It constitutes the most military assistance Washington has ever provided to an ally, but was clinched only after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted concessions.

Key among those is the gradual phasing out of a clause allowing Israel to spend 26.3 percent of the funds on its own defense sector, which competes actively with U.S. firms such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon.

That means Israeli defense companies will miss out on up to $10 billion that might otherwise have been spent on home-made drones, missiles, tanks and other equipment, depending on the precise terms of the phase-out, which remain unclear. Once that phase-out is completed, all the funds in the agreement will have to be spent in the United States.

“It’s quite a problem,” said one Israeli defense industry official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. “The bigger companies and most advanced ones with the best technology and capabilities will be able to survive, but the smaller you are, the bigger the problem is.”

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the domestic consequences of the aid deal but has said the agreement “will greatly strengthen the security of Israel”.

Israel has about 700 defense-related firms, most of them with only 50 to 150 employees. They mainly act as subcontractors to Israel’s four largest defense companies — Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel Military Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Israel’s defense exports totaled $5.7 billion in 2015, about 14 pct of all exports and a major driver of the economy.

OPTIONS

None of the companies asked by Reuters to discuss the aid package were willing to speak on the record, mentioning concerns about future business. But several executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that as a result of the deal they were already considering contingency plans.

One option would be for larger firms to open subsidiaries in the United States, like Elbit has done, to compensate for the loss of business. They might also acquire smaller U.S. firms.

As one executive put it: “This should be translated into an opportunity for the Israeli industry, which should penetrate new markets and improve their competitive ability.”

“We should face the global trends and the fact that Israel is losing its ability to compete,” the official said, adding the company where he works would “accelerate the process” of searching for a U.S. company to buy.

Another area of concern is the loss of Israeli know-how, with aerospace engineers and scientists potentially moving abroad if there is a decline in inward spending and investment.

The executives said they hoped that when the time comes, the government will find the nearly $1 billion a year extra needed to keep the sector afloat under terms of the agreement, although the sum may be hard to come by given the fractured political environment.

According to Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association, even a 1 billion shekel ($265 million) cut in the defense budget will lead to the layoff of more than 2,000 workers, mostly from small- and medium-sized subcontractors that have a “to be or not to be” dependence on orders from the Israeli defense establishment.

A source close to Netanyahu said the prime minister didn’t anticipate any closure of small defense companies, and noted the procurement changes would go into effect only in time.

On the domestic political front, the right-wing leader has drawn fire over the new pact from critics, including his former defense minister Ehud Barak, who said that Netanyahu’s vocal opposition to last year’s U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran had jeopardized a potentially larger package.

However, with uncertainties surrounding a tightly contested election for the White House, Netanyahu was keen to wrap up an agreement, replacing the current $30 billion deal that expires at the end of fiscal 2018.

Addressing his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu called arguments that Israel was short-changed in the negotiations “distortions and fabrications of parties with political interests”.

Avraham Bar David, a former general who works with some 200 small Israeli defense contractors through the Manufacturers’ Association, predicted that “70 to 100 of them” will not survive the local procurement restriction.

“These companies are too small to sell abroad,” he said.

($1 = 3.7734 shekels)

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Giles Elgood)

U.S., Israel sign $38 billion military aid package

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval office of the White House in Washington

y Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will give Israel $38 billion in military aid over a decade, the largest such aid package in U.S. history, under an agreement disclosed this week and signed on Wednesday.

The deal, whose details were reported by Reuters earlier, will allow Israel to upgrade most of its fighter aircraft, improve its ground forces’ mobility and strengthen its missile defense systems, a top U.S. official said.

While the package constitutes the most U.S. military aid ever given to any country, it entails concessions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials on both sides.

Those include Israel’s promise not to seek additional funds from Congress beyond what will be guaranteed annually in the new package, and to phase out a special arrangement that has allowed Israel to spend part of its U.S. aid on its own defense industry instead of on American-made weapons, the officials said.

The $38 billion memorandum of understanding covers U.S. fiscal years 2019-2028 and succeeds the current $30 billion MOU signed in 2007, which expires at the end of fiscal 2018.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and I are confident that the new MOU will make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remains a dangerous neighborhood,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a written statement.

The agreement was signed at the State Department by U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon and by Jacob Nagel, acting head of Netanyahu’s national security council.

According to a White House “factsheet,” the deal includes:

-annual payments of $3.3 billion in so-called foreign military financing, typically used to purchase U.S. equipment.

-$500 million a year for Israeli missile defense funding, the first time this has been formally built into the aid pact.

-A phasing-out of a special arrangement that for decades has allowed Israel to use 26.3 percent of the U.S. aid on its own defense industry instead of on American-made weapons.

-Elimination of a longstanding provision that has allowed Israel to use a portion of the U.S. aid to buy military fuel.

-The funding will allow Israel to update “the lion’s share” of its fighter aircraft, including purchasing additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Israel is scheduled to receive 33 F-35 aircraft, the first two of which will be delivered in December.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Susan Heavey)

Record new U.S. Military aid deal for Israel to be signed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office on September 11, 2016.

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, Sept 13 (Reuters) – The United States and Israel have reached final agreement on a record new package of at least $38 billion in U.S. military aid and the 10-year pact is expected to be signed within days, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The deal will represent the biggest pledge of U.S. military assistance ever made to any country but also includes major concessions granted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials on both sides.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Luke Baker; Editing by
Jeffrey Heller and Mark Trevelyan)

World Vision lays off contractors in Gaza after Israel allegations

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Christian aid group World Vision has laid off about 120 contractors in the Gaza Strip following allegations by Israel that the agency’s operations manager in the territory had diverted funds to the Islamist group Hamas.

In an Aug. 29 letter handed to contractors at a meeting in Gaza, the NGO said its bank accounts in Jerusalem had been frozen by Israeli authorities and it was no longer able to transfer money to Gaza, making it impossible to pay them.

The letter said World Vision was living through a big crisis and its sources of funding had been affected. It was written in Arabic and a copy was sent to Reuters.

“Because of the crisis, we have frozen all our activities in Gaza. Our bank accounts in Jerusalem were frozen by the (Israeli) authorities, which also prevented us from making any transfers to Gaza.

“Because of these conditions that are beyond the control of World Vision, we will not be able to keep your job at the present stage because we will not be able to transfer any salaries or any other payments.”

A spokesman for World Vision spokesman would not confirm that the contractors had been laid off, saying only that the agency’s operations in Gaza had been suspended following the accusations against the operations manager, Mohammad El Halabi.

“Due to the seriousness of the allegations laid against Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision has suspended operations in Gaza,” the organization said. “We are conducting a full review, including an externally conducted forensic audit.”

Israel arrested El Halabi in June and last month accused him of funneling tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has controlled the territory since 2007.

Halabi has denied any wrongdoing via his lawyer. He has been charged and has appeared at a pre-trial hearing held in secret. World Vision and Amnesty International have called on Israel to ensure he receives a fair and transparent trial.

Israeli officials accuse Halabi of siphoning off more than $7 million a year since 2010 to pay Hamas fighters, buy arms, pay for the group’s activities and build fortifications.

World Vision has disputed the allegations, saying in a statement on Aug. 8 that its total operating budget in Gaza over the past 10 years was around $22.5 million, making the alleged diversion of nearly $50 million “hard to reconcile”.

Some foreign diplomats have expressed concern at Israel’s presentation of the case and sought clearer evidence for the numbers. Since the allegations emerged, however, Australia has suspended funding to the aid group.

One of the contractors laid off told Reuters World Vision had emphasized the situation was out of its control.

“They said it was about the freezing of transfers and nothing else, when we asked them if that had to do with Halabi’s case,” he said, asking not to be named because he did not want to jeopardize the payment of funds he is still awaiting.

The termination letter informed contractors World Vision was looking at ways to pay all amounts owed to them through legal channels and “we hope this happens in the near future”.

The statement asked signatories to hand over belongings that they had received from the aid group including mobile phones, work identity cards and computers.

(Additional reporting by Luke Baker; editing by Angus MacSwan)