WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump enhanced the U.S. government’s ability to go after terrorists and immediately extended the new sanctions to figures belonging to Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The executive order Trump signed Tuesday penalizes foreign financial institutions that handle the money of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” Designated terrorists have long been barred from using U.S. financial instruments.
“This new authority serves to put all foreign financial institutions on notice that enabling terrorists and their financial backers to rely upon the international financial system to facilitate their malign activities will have consequences,” the U.S. Treasury said in naming 15 groups and individuals to be hit with the new sanctions. “This administration remains committed to facilitating the peace process in the Middle East and will use this amended authority to sanction those who stand in the way of progress.
On the list are Zaher Jabarin, who runs a Turkey-based financial network that benefits Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group; Muhammad Said Izadi, an official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps who liaises with Hamas; the Redin exchange, a Turkey-based outfit that transfers money to Hamas; and leaders of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group, and Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based terrorist militia.
The order also streamlines the process to identify designated terrorists.
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