Israel Matzav

Saudi funding for terror down, but only in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi government is going all-out to stop Saudi citizens and charities from funding terror organizations, and they have had some success, but only in Saudi Arabia.

Still, the report cited a US state department study made public in February that found that “Saudi individuals and Saudi-based charitable organisations continue to be a significant source of financing for terrorism and extremism outside of Saudi Arabia”.

US treasury officials responsible for tracking terrorist financing told the GAO “that Saudi-based individuals are a top source of funding for al Qa’eda and … the Taliban”, though the officials “did not cite an estimated amount” for that funding.

The GAO report, issued in September, also noted concerns that during Haj, when an estimated two million to three million Muslims visit Saudi Arabia, “non-Saudi individuals associated with extremists groups could exchange funds to support terrorism and violent extremism outside of Saudi Arabia”.

Pilgrims have already started arriving in Saudi Arabia for Haj, which officially starts on November 25.

Like criminal enterprises, terrorist groups use cash couriers to evade the oversight of banks. These couriers are difficult to detect and to regulate.

This whole region operates on cash. Most Americans would never dream of defying US law by carrying more than $10,000 in cash or financial instruments into or out of the United States without reporting it, but my sense is that people in the Middle East do that all the time (recall all the Hamas cash that was smuggled into the Gaza Strip).

Read the whole thing. The US government acts like the Saudis are cooperating, but I have to wonder how much of that is just being diplomatic.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:58 PM