Center for the Defence of the Individual - Despite obstacles unlawfully put in place by Israel: HaMoked manages to transfer a former prisoner from Gaza a refund of a fine he had paid
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21.12.2014

Despite obstacles unlawfully put in place by Israel: HaMoked manages to transfer a former prisoner from Gaza a refund of a fine he had paid

On December 15, 2011, HaMoked asked President of Israel to pardon a former prisoner so that a 10,000 ILS (approximately 2,500 USD) fine he had paid may be refunded to him. On February 20, 2014, more than two years after the pardon application, the President decided to reduce the fine to 1 ILS (approximately 25 cents, US).

Yet, this is not where the story ends. According to the military, which was in possession of the funds, the Bank of Israel did not allow the transfer to the man’s account because he was in the Gaza Strip and the law prohibits fund transfers to the Gaza Strip. We note that Israel had stipulated that only amounts greater than 12,000 ILS (approx. 3,000 USD) transferred to Gaza must be reported. HaMoked asked the military to transfer the funds to its account. The army did. However, HaMoked’s bank, Mercantile Bank, also refused to transfer the money to the bank in Gaza. The attempt to transfer the funds from a Ramallah bank to Gaza failed as well, as Mercantile Bank in Jerusalem refused to honor a check written by HaMoked (!). It took a lot of pressure on the bank in Jerusalem to finally get it to agree to the transfer the money.

HaMoked protests the manner in which Israeli banks make their own law, refusing to transfer to Gaza a perfectly legal sum of money, lower than the sum Israel requires them to report.

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