American students will return to their colleges in the coming weeks – and with them, pro-Hamas activists, preparing to re-occupy campuses to protest against Israel.
Having rested their one-track minds, we can only wonder if a report during their vacation gave them pause to reflect on a reality they have failed to grasp: the “sickness of wealth” that has long plagued the Palestinian leadership.
On July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, 61, a top leader of the terrorist group Hamas responsible for murdering thousands of innocent Israeli civilians, was assassinated along with his bodyguard while in a guest house in Iran. He had come to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
The means of Haniyeh’s execution is debated. The New York Times claimed a bomb was smuggled into the house before his arrival, a report Iran vehemently denied. Haniyeh’s son later claimed an Israeli guided missile homed in on his father’s cell phone location, as did the Iranian government, but no evidence has surfaced that anyone in the area saw a projectile in the sky at the time of the explosion.
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Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart NewsDespite Haniyeh’s supposed interest in a free Palestine for “his” people who live in constant squalor, he managed to stay at the best hotels when traveling, often going on personal jets or first class on commercial airplanes. He had a luxurious residence in Doha, Qatar, and maintained bank accounts and other assets in Turkey.
Within days after his death, Haniyeh’s sons reportedly traveled to Turkey to claim their father’s assets. The Israeli government claimed to have knowledge that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a fervent supporter of Hamas, was unwilling to turn the money over to Haniyeh’s heirs. Interestingly, the amount held in his accounts was an estimated $4 billion in both cash and real estate. That is quite a bundle of savings when the average income for Haniyeh’s fellow Palestinians was about $640 per month by some estimates.
Undoubtedly, Haniyeh benefitted from various income streams. The taxes Hamas collects on goods smuggled through its network of tunnels has made it the second-richest terrorist group in the world. While Palestinian leaders pocket significant amounts of that money, virtually none goes to benefit the Palestinian people they represent by building infrastructure. Despite a need for wells and water treatment, no money is so spent, resulting in 12 percent of childhood deaths in Gaza estimated to occur due to contaminated water. U.S. college protesters need to reflect upon such a high child death rate as only one in ten Gazans have access to clean water.
Instead of improving Gaza’s water system, whatever money fails to be pocketed by Palestinian leaders goes into constructing the massive tunnel system the Israeli Defense Forces have uncovered since October 7, 2023.
Additionally, Palestinian leaders personally benefit from international donations made to the Palestinians. It is no wonder that the $4 billion estate Haniyeh left behind is not the exception but the rule. Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, whose position Haniyeh assumed, is estimated to hold $3 billion; Khaled Mashal, considered one of the most prominent members of Hamas, has banked $4 billion; the president of the Palestinian state, Mahmoud Abbas, apparently in an effort not to appear too greedy, has reportedly only amassed $100 million.
When Yasser Arafat died in 2004 as President of the Palestinian National Authority, it was determined he had diverted $1 billion to secret accounts, although it was believed there was much more that was unaccounted for. Again – as Palestinians lived in squalor, Arafat’s wife lived lavishly in Paris, reportedly receiving $100,000 per month from her husband to survive.
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart NewsFor anyone monitoring a rate of return on international investment dollars in Gaza, there is a clear indicator that something is wrong. The bulk of donations made to Palestine since 1993 has not come from the Arab nations but from the U.S., which in itself raises the question of Arab support for the region. But the amount the US has donated during that period equals 15 times the amount, per capita, given to Europe under the Marshall Plan after World War II. Yet there is nothing to show for such donations in Gaza except for the outrageous saving accounts of Palestinian leaders.
Just think what all these billions of dollars could do to improve the standard of living for Palestinians if the donations went where they were intended. The proof Palestinian leaders have no interest in the welfare of their own people was evidenced by their rejection of Israel’s 2017 reported offer to build Gaza into what it could be: the “Singapore of the Mediterranean.” As Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman noted at that time:
The Gazans must understand that Israel, which withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the last millimeter, is not the source of their suffering — it is the Hamas leadership, which doesn’t take their needs into consideration … The moment Hamas gives up its tunnels and rockets, we’ll be the first to invest.
It is an offer allegedly circulating again today but only in a Hamas-free Gaza.
As the leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have long recruited innocent Palestinians to their cause with the lie of representing their interests in securing statehood, it is their own lust for wealth and power that selfishly motivates them to keep the fight alive. While Haniyeh never knew what hit him, his fate should be a warning to other such leaders who have similarly made their fortunes off the deaths of both Palestinians and Israelis that, regardless of where they are, they will be held accountable.
If only the pro-Hamas demonstrators who will be flooding their campuses with waves of antisemitism in the weeks ahead could grasp this.
Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama, and the first Gulf war. He is the author of Bare Feet, Iron Will–Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields, Living the Juche Lie: North Korea’s Kim Dynasty and Doomsday: Iran–The Clock is Ticking. He is a senior analyst for Ravenna Associates, a corporate strategic communications company, who frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.
