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Israeli Strikes Seek to Cripple Hezbollah’s Shadow State
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon October 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
JNS.org – Overnight on Monday, the Israeli Air Force launched a series of targeted strikes on branches and sites of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial association, which acts as a Hezbollah-run bank and forms the basis for the group’s shadow state in Lebanon. The goal of the strikes was to dismantle the economic network that funds the Iranian proxy army and makes Shi’ite Lebanese dependent on it.
This is part of a broader strategy aimed at disrupting Hezbollah’s ability to rearm and weakening its stranglehold on the Lebanese population.
According to a senior Israeli intelligence official on Oct. 20, the Al-Qard Al-Hassan faux bank “allows the whole economic functionality of the organization, whether it’s paying the salaries to the various operatives or just the daily payments they have to make for all kinds of things.”
Al-Qard Al-Hassan works similarly to a regular bank, with people arriving to conduct transactions, withdraw money, deposit funds, or take loans, “but actually it’s not a bank at all,” said the official. “And it’s disconnected completely from the international SWIFT mechanism … in order to avoid sanctions.”
In addition to paying terrorist salaries, Al-Qard Al-Hassan also provides services to Lebanese Shi’ites for a range of Hezbollah-funded programs, serving around 300,000 people and acting as an alternative banking system disconnected from the Lebanese financial system. “And it’s run completely by Hezbollah,” said the intelligence official, adding that until his elimination on September 27, the chief decision-maker at the bank was Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Most of Hezbollah’s funds were kept in Al-Qard Al-Hassan facilities, including the money of civilians who used the bank’s services.
“We know for a fact that Hezbollah is counting on this money, whether its their own money or the money of the civilians who put their money in this association, to fund the organization in emergency times, and now, during war, when they need to rearm themselves, re-equip themselves, they have a lot more payments to make,” the official said.
Lebanese Shi’ites, rather than use Lebanon’s official banking systems, placed their money in Hezbollah’s association, giving it control over most of the community and enabling it to run an alternative civilian system in Lebanon, which was also used to fund a shadow healthcare and education system.
This shadow economic system is one of the reasons Lebanon can’t get out of the economic crisis it’s in, the official explained.
“We know that the economic situation in Lebanon is perhaps one of the worst economic crises that there has been over the past 100 years, in modern times,” he said.
The official detailed the financial sources that keep Hezbollah afloat, noting that Iran provides around $50 million monthly to Hezbollah via Syria. Some of this money is transferred physically in cash, while other funds come through sales of Iranian oil to Syria, which are converted into cash in Syria before being funneled to Lebanon.
“Diplomatic figures” also arrive at Beirut’s international airport carrying cash, the source said.
This steady flow of Iranian funds enables Hezbollah to pay salaries and finance its day-to-day activities.
In addition to Iranian funding, the intelligence official outlined other sources of income for Hezbollah. The organization has been developing economic initiatives within Lebanon, establishing businesses aimed at creating self-sustaining economic streams.
Although these ventures currently contribute a smaller share to Hezbollah’s budget, they represent a growing part of its financial base. Moreover, fundraising efforts by prominent Hezbollah figures, though less significant, also supplement the organization’s income.
The Israeli strikes overnight Sunday aimed to undercut these funding streams.
According to IDF Arabic language Spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee, who made a statement on Oct. 20 via X, these strikes were necessary because “Hezbollah’s terrorist activities are funded by the Iranian state budget,” and the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association acts as a “cover for Hezbollah’s terrorist assets.”
Adraee stressed that these financial networks directly contribute to Hezbollah’s ability to acquire weapons, establish launch positions, and pay its operatives. Israel’s strikes aimed to dismantle this infrastructure to undermine Hezbollah’s ability to continue financing its war efforts.
The Alma Research Center, which monitors northern fronts, highlighted that Al-Qard Al-Hassan has functioned as Hezbollah’s de facto bank since its founding in 1981.
The Center noted on Oct. 20 that Al-Qard Al-Hassan holds tons of gold and manages over half a billion dollars in loans annually. Over time, the institution has also become a tool for money laundering, allowing Hezbollah to bypass international sanctions, according to Alma. In fact, in 2021 the bank’s databases were hacked, revealing a trove of customer accounts, including those of Hezbollah operatives under sanctions, it added.
This parallel financial network has allowed Hezbollah to function as a state within a state in Lebanon, and its elimination will seriously damage the terror group.
The post Israeli Strikes Seek to Cripple Hezbollah’s Shadow State first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’
Zohran Mamdani. Photo: Ron Adar / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
In a warning sign for the campaign of Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, a majority of city voters in a new poll say the candidate’s hardline anti-Israel stance makes them less likely to vote for him.
In the survey of likely city voters conducted by American Pulse, 52.5 percent said Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada” coupled with his backing of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement made them less likely to vote for him in November. Just 31% of city voters polled were more likely to support him because of these positions.
At the same time, a significant share of young New York City voters support Mamdani’s anti-Israel positioning, a striking sign of shifting generational views on Israel and the Palestinian cause.
Nearly half of voters aged 18 to 44 (46 percent) said the State Assembly member’s backing for BDS and “refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’” made them more likely to support him.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, has been under fire for defending “globalize the intifada,” a slogan many Jewish groups associate with incitement to violence against Israel and Jews. While critics argue it glorifies terrorism, supporters claim it’s a call for international solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially Palestinians. Mamdani has also voiced support for BDS, a movement widely condemned by mainstream Jewish organizations as antisemitic for singling out Israel.
The generational divide exposed by the poll comes amid a broader political realignment. Younger progressives across the country are increasingly critical of Israeli policies, especially in the wake of the Gaza war, and more receptive to Palestinian activism. But to many Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s rising support is alarming.
Rabbi David Wolpe, visiting scholar at Harvard University, condemned the phrase with a sarcastic analogy.
“‘Globalize the intifada’ is just a political slogan,” he said. “Like ‘The cockroaches must be exterminated’ was just a housing authority slogan in Rwanda.”
Jewish organizations have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents in New York and across the U.S. since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. The blending of anti-Zionist slogans with calls for “intifada,” historically linked to violent uprisings, has deepened fears among Jewish communities that traditional red lines are being crossed.
Whether this emerging coalition reshapes New York politics remains to be seen. However, the poll indicates that among younger voters, views that were once considered fringe are quickly moving into the mainstream.
The post New Poll: Majority of NYC Voters ‘Less Likely’ to Support Mamdani Over His Refusal to Condemn ‘Globalize the Intifada’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Jews Targeted at June’s Pride Month Events
A Jewish gay pride flag. Photo: Twitter.
The research division of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) released a report on Wednesday detailing incidents of hate against Jews which took place last month during demonstrations in celebration of LGBTQ rights and identity.
Incidents reported by the group include:
- At a Pride march in Wales, the activists Cymru Queers for Palestine chose to block the path and show a sign that said “Profiting from genocide,” an attempt to link the event’s sponsors — such as Amazon — to the war in Gaza.
- A Dublin Pride march saw the participation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which labeled Israel a “genocidal entity.”
- In Toronto at a late June Pride march, demonstrators again attacked organizers with a sign declaring, “Pride partners with genocide.”
CAM also identified a recurring narrative deployed against Israel by some far-left activists: so-called “pinkwashing,” a term which the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement calls “an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.”
The report notes that at a Washington DC Pride event in early June Medea Benjamin, cofounder of activist group Code Pink and a regular of anti-war protests, wore a pair of goofy, oversized sunglasses and a shirt in her signature pink with the phrase “you can’t pinkwash genocide.”
Other incidents CAM recorded showed the injection of anti-Israel sentiment into Pride events.
A musical group canceled a performance at an interfaith service in Brooklyn, claiming the hosting synagogue had a “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.” In San Francisco before the yearly Trans March, a Palestine group said in its announcement of its participation, “Stop the war on Iran and the genocide of Palestine, stop the war on immigrants and attacks on trans people.”
CAM notes that this “queers for Palestine” sentiment is not new, pointing to a 2017 event wherein “organizers of the Chicago Dyke March infamously removed participants who were waving a Pride flag adorned with a Star of David on the grounds that the symbol ‘made people feel unsafe.’”
In February, the Israel Defense Forces shared with the New York Post documents it had recovered demonstrating that Hamas had tortured and executed members it suspected of homosexuality and other moral offenses in conflict with Islamist ideology.
Amit Benjamin, who is gay and a first sergeant major in the IDF, said during a visit to New York City for Pride month that “All the ‘queers for Gaza’ need to open their eyes. Hamas kills gays … kills lesbians … queers cannot exist in Gaza.”
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IAEA pulls inspectors from Iran as standoff over access drags on
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country’s nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.
Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran’s facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.
Iran’s parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency’s inspectors will be able to return to Iran.
“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the IAEA said on X.
Diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors’ safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.
Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“[Grossi] reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible,” the IAEA said.
The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran’s three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran’s nine tonnes of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.
That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.
As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries’ declarations. But the bombing of Iran’s facilities has now muddied the waters.
“We cannot afford that … the inspection regime is interrupted,” Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.
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