US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE2113

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 002113 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP/GLASS, S/CT (FOX), EUR/ERA(PARKER), 
EUR/UBI (HOLLIDAY), IO/PHO (PEREZ), INR/EC 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL (AUFHAUSER), TREASURY 
(ZARATE), OFAC DIRECTOR (NEWCOMB), TASF FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
NSC FOR JMEYERS 
JUSTICE FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN 
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2018 
TAGS: ETTC, EFIN, PTER, PREL, KVPR, CVIS, KPAL, NL, EUN 
SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE:THE HAGUE - NOTIFICATION OF 
HAMAS NAMES 
 
REF: A. STATE 242722 
     B. THE HAGUE 1548 
     C. THE HAGUE 1146 
 
Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Todd Kushner.  Reason 1.5(b) a 
nd (d) 
 
1. (S) The GONL has responded to the August 19 suicide attack 
in Jerusalem by calling on fellow EU members and the EU 
Commission (via diplomatic demarche) to convene the EU 
clearinghouse as quickly as possible in order to move forward 
with designating Hamas.  Because large numbers of European 
officials are still on summer holidays, the Dutch do not 
expect a clearinghouse meeting to be convened before early 
September, but they think it is important to attempt to 
jumpstart the process.  Key to getting a positive EU decision 
on Hamas, Dutch officials noted, will largely depend on the 
positions taken by France and Belgium.  Those member states 
who may want to continue holding up the Hamas designation, 
these officials speculated, may try to argue that the suicide 
bombing was not a breech of the ceasefire by Hamas but 
retaliation by Hamas for Israeli ceasefire violations.  The 
Dutch reject this argument. 
 
2. (C) The  Presidential announcement will be sufficient to 
ensure the Hamas-related designations of August 21 can be 
considered by the clearinghouse, according to the Dutch.  The 
case against each of the individuals and entities would be 
considered separately.  However, the willlingness of some EU 
members to move forward will depend on the quality of 
information in each individual dossier.  The Dutch expect 
that any EU designations of Hamas charities operating in 
Europe will be challenged in court by those designated. 
 
3.  (C) Dutch officials were pleased by the U.S. indication 
(ref a) that we do not want charitable activity in the 
Palestinian territories to cease and that we want to explore 
ways to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian 
territories can continue to flow.  The Netherlands has 
previously stressed the importance it places on this point 
(ref b,c) and would like to actively engage with us to find 
ways for humanitarian assistance to flow. They have also 
indicated to us the need to work with the Palestinian 
Authority and international financial community to ensure 
stricter control of all funds going into Palestinian 
territory, including through wire transfers. 
SOBEL