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Turkish professor, Israeli Arab arrested for aiding Hamas

The Israel Security Agency and Israel Police arrested two men suspected of having been recruited for Hamas activity in Turkey.

By: World Israel News Staff

Israel’s combined security services were recently successful in blowing the lid on a Hamas operation run out of Turkey, arresting two men suspected of having been recruited for terrorist activity in that country.

The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) stated that on January 1, Turkish citizen Cemil Tekeli, a lecturer in law, was arrested on suspicion of aiding Hamas terrorists in Turkey. Three weeks later, Dara’am Jabarin, an Arab with Israeli citizenship and resident of Umm al-Fahm, was also arrested.

The investigation revealed that both men were recruited in Turkey by senior Hamas terrorist Zaher Jabarin, who was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011.

IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Hamas captivity for five years, was set free in exchange for 1,027 convicted terrorists. Many of those released returned to terrorism, including some who were rearrested and re-incarcerated in Israel.

Jabarin is responsible for Hamas’ budget and promotes complex terrorist operations in Judea and Samaria on the instructions of Salah Aruri, who serves as the deputy chairman of the organization and head of its operations in in that region.

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Helping Hamas Grow in Turkey

During Tekeli’s investigation, it was revealed that Turkey contributes to Hamas’ military strengthening through the SADAT company, which was established at the behest of Adnan Basha, an adviser who is close to Turkish administration officials.

The company was founded to assist, with funds and war materiel, the creation of the ‘Palestine Army’, the goal of which is to fight Israel. One of its employees even helped senior Hamas officials to visit a 2015 weapons show in Turkey, where they expressed interest in UAVs.

It also became clear that Hamas was in direct contact with Turkish authorities via Jihad Ya’amur, a terrorist who was involved in the 1994 abduction and murder of IDF soldier Nahshon Waxman. Ya’amur was also released in the Shalit deal.

The investigation showed that in 2012, Tekeli was asked to help Hamas terrorists establish themselves in Turkey. Most had Israeli blood on their hands and were released in the Shalit deal. Tekeli assisted them in obtaining visas that allowed them to stay in Turkey, in purchasing and renting commercial and residential properties, in purchasing luxury vehicles and in becoming established in business through the registration of companies in their names.

Wide-ranging Hamas money laundering

The probe also discovered extensive Hamas money-laundering activity in Turkey on instructions from Zaher Jabarin, while the sources of the funds were concealed. Furthermore, Hamas members owned the IMES company, which served as a cover for the laundering of millions of US dollars that were then transferred to the Gaza Strip and various countries.

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IMES’s importance to Hamas was revealed during the investigation of Dara’am Jabarin, who was recruited to Hamas by Zaher Jabarin while visiting Turkey. The initial contact with Dara’am was under the cover of IMES commercial activity.

Dara’am visited Turkey frequently over the next 18 months and was asked by his handlers to transfer Hamas funds from Turkey to Judea and Samaria. His handlers in Turkey gave him hundreds of thousands of Euros for Hamas’s military infrastructure. He hid the funds in various secret locations in Judea and Samaria. A search of his home uncovered 91,000 Euros which were due to be transferred to Judea and Samaria.

Dara’am’s activities were carried out at the behest of Zaher Jabarin and his chief aide, Salameh Mar’i, whom Tekeli had helped establish in Turkey. Salameh Mari, also released in the Shalit deal, had been involved in a March 1993 terrorist attack near Burkin, Samaria, in which an IDF soldier was murdered.

Pursuant to the investigation, additional suspects, residents of Umm al-Fahm who had assisted Dara’am, were also detained.

Cemil Tekeli was deported from Israel upon the conclusion of his investigation. Dara’am Jabarin is due to go on trial in the coming days.

Turkish government implicated

The Shin Bet slammed the Turkish government for aiding the Hamas terror organization.

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“The findings of the investigation underscore the fact that Hamas’ ramified economic and military activity in Turkey takes place unhindered as Turkish officials turn a blind eye and – on occasion – encourage it, and with the assistance of Turkish nationals, some of whom are close to the government,” the Shin Bet underscored.

Turkey has been criticized for harboring Islamic terrorists – specifically the Hamas terror group, which operates unhindered in that country.

“This activity relies on – inter alia – business platforms that serve Hamas in laundering funds that are transferred to Judea and Samaria and used in recruiting Israelis to its ranks,” the Shin Bet stated.