Gazans fleeced in investment scam – aljazeera.net — I bet the Israelis are keeping an eye on tunnel traffic and taking a slice of the action.
Underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip are the only way for millions of dollars worth of essential supplies to get past Israel’s siege of the coastal territory.
But it has now emerged that at least 40,000 Gazans have lost their life savings in a scheme that promised up to 50 per cent profits in return for an investment in tunnel trading.
Hamas, which has de facto control of Gaza, returned a fraction of the $100m that disappeared through the scheme, and has said that is investigating the fraud.
However, with hundreds of middlemen as yet unpunished and many of them rumoured to have had links to Hamas, the duped Gazans say that more should be done.
How is this country under siege from Israel? What about the side open to Egypt?
“I bet the Israelis are keeping an eye on tunnel traffic and taking a slice of the action.”
What a stupid f’in remark!!!!
It sounds damned bigoted to me. Nothing you can say can spin that comment.
“I bet the Israelis are keeping an eye on tunnel traffic and taking a slice of the action.”
Wrong. What a stupid remark. Israel doesn’t control the border where these tunnels cross. Egypt does. I’d bet Egypt is taking a slice of the action.
Israel wants these tunnels closed down. These are the same tunnels that are used to bring in weapons to kill Israeli civilians and service men.
Isn’t is amazing that when ever ANYTHING bad happens to an Arab, is the is Joooooos fault. Hell, even the Gaza victims aren’t blaming Israel. They were taken by a good old fashioned faith based scam by their own little Bernie Maldoff.
#2 & #3
So you rekon Israel doesn’t know where these tunnels are and cant close them down? They just sit back and let the contraband, the very stuff they are preventing from entering Gaza by other means, flow through these tunnels? Gimme a break.
I’ll bet my left nut that protection money is paid by the Palestinians to keep the tunnels open.
#2 You have a pretty strange idea of bigoted.
Gazan’s getting scammed? What news!
Oh, wait! The Palestinians have been getting scammed for generations!
First by the PLO, and then by Hamas.
Gazans are the very definition of Sheeple.
Yep – Gaza has a border with Egypt, yet the report only mentions Israel’s “crippling siege” – yet Gaza is not surrounded by Egypt. The report doesn’t mention that the tunnels lead to Egypt, which doesn’t seem to mind, since Egyptian businesses profit from the trade.
So why doesn’t Egypt open the borders? Well, why would it? The occupants of Gaza are Palestinian, not Egyptian … and besides, if all the civilians left, Hamas would lose its “human shield”, which would suit Israel nicely.
… it may not be the Israelis or the Egyptians, but I guarantee you, there’s a mole in those tunnels!
#4 – honeyman – So you rekon Israel doesn’t know where these tunnels are and cant close them down?
They try.
#4 “So you rekon Israel doesn’t know where these tunnels are and cant close them down? They just sit back and let the contraband, the very stuff they are preventing from entering Gaza by other means, flow through these tunnels? Gimme a break.”
That is true, for lots of reasons
(1) Israel doesn’t control that area. There are no troops on the ground. There is no Israeli seismic equipment looking for digging or tunnels. The only chance they get to take them out of service is the occasional battle, like the one earlier this year. Then they withdraw, and the Palestinians just re-dig them.
If you watched the above news report, that attack is what created this “investment opportunity”. They had to dig new tunnels and were suckering investors.
(2) Egypt control the area where the tunnels come up. Egypt doesn’t want the Palestinians in Egypt. They know that if they closed them down, the residents of Gaza would come pouring across the border. If they try to stop them, then the uneducated masses of Egypt would would realize that they have been lied to all these decades. After all, it the suffering of the Palestinians is reason Egyptians are denied political freedom.
(3) If Israel decided to take over that area of Gaza and shut the tunnels down, the international outrage would be deafening. The rest of the world would call Israel for Gaza really is, the world’s largest outdoor prison. It would also mean that like running a real prison, Israel would bear the responsibility of feeding, housing, and taking care of everyone in Gaza.
It would also trigger unrest in the rest of the Arab world, threatening the dictatorships that run those states.
So by letting the tunnels operate, everyone is just trying to keep this powderkeg from exploding.
#9 Ron
You make a good argument. Perhaps Israel are just sitting back, watching. I don’t expect they’d be thrilled about the prospect of arms coming in via the tunnels though. That would have to be monitored somehow.
Doesn’t Hamas play up their (claimed) moral authority derived from being good Muslims who take care of the people? (especially in contrast to the PLO/Fatah)
Seems like this scandal could hurt Hamas, if the average Palestinian believes it. Hamas, of course, will claim they are being smeared.
I have only a basic understanding of the politics there so I’d be interested to hear from others about my question.
We’re Hamas! We have your best interests at heart.
Come on honeyman. Read the link in post #8, and the rest of the informative posts about the real situation.
Then we’ll see if you have the integrity and the balls to retract your bigoted comment about the Joooooos.
#13 GetReal
Surely you jest. I will remain free to make comments on any ethnic group or state (and I was referring to Israel in my comment) as I see fit.
“Essential supplies” = Guns, ammunition, grenades, rocket propelled grenades, explosives, money, drugs etc.
George Galloway On entering Gaza gave the millions of pounds donated by the people of britain to the Hamas leaders. Did he think they would buy food for the people of Gaza. no they will buy more missiles to fire at Israel. this scam involving the people of Gaza, I suggest that Hamas have bought more rockets.George Galloway is a supporter of Hamas the terrorists.
Baz