Travelling the Fertile Crescent

Cash-based economies and a long tradition of hawala banking make anti-money laundering a special challenge for authorities in the Middle East. Joel Ceausu starts his report in Israel.

A decade ago, Ofer Bendayan had little trouble sending cash transfers from New York to Haifa and back.The fine food importer knew that large amounts were reviewed in banks, “but that was because they were looking at organised crime, not terrorism. Today it’s different. Everybody is a potential threat.” Over the last ten years, Israel’s efforts to fight money laundering by terrorist organizations received a lot of kudos, but little cooperation from the West. “It looked good on paper for them,” said one Justice Ministry official in Jerusalem,“but it wasn’t the Americans’ priority. Now we are being asked to do more.”