Senators Unveil Sanctions Bill to Counter Hamas
A bipartisan group of four senators introduced a bill that would impose sanctions on foreign banks and foreign cryptocurrency firms that do business with terrorist organizations such as Hamas.
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The Terrorism Financing Prevention Act would require the Treasury Department to restrict U.S. financial system access for foreign banks or foreign digital asset transaction facilitators that facilitate transactions with U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations. It is intended to expand upon the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, which focuses on the terrorist group Hezbollah.
“We must protect the integrity of our financial system from new and emerging threats from terrorist organizations, including Hamas that carried out the despicable attacks on Israel on October 7," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said. “With this bill, we are forcing foreign financial institutions and foreign crypto firms to choose between doing business with terrorist organizations or maintaining access to the U.S. financial system."
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced the bill on Dec. 7 along with Reed and Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Mike Rounds, R-S.D. The bill was referred to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.