By Giovanni Giacalone
On October 7th, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three individuals and one sham charity that are prominent international financial supporters of Hamas, as well as one Hamas-controlled financial institution in Gaza.
Among the sanctioned individuals is Hannoun, who has been indicated by Washington as: “an Italy-based Hamas member who established the Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, or Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese (ABSPP), a sham charity in Italy which ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing. As an executive at ABSPP, Hannoun has sent money to Hamas-controlled organizations since at least 2018. He has solicited funding for Hamas with senior Hamas officials and sent at least $4 million to Hamas over a 10-year period”.
Hannoun’s money-collecting activity in Italy
A Genoa-based Palestinian architect originally from the Ramallah area, Hannoun is no stranger to the Italian authorities since he has been operating in Italy for decades, through associations such as ABSPP, Associations of Palestinians in Italy (API), and European for al-Quds, to collect funds for the Palestinian cause and to spread anti-Israel propaganda.
In December of 2021, after several reports to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, Unicredit Bank suspended operations on the accounts of the ABSPP, which also has offices in Milan and Rome, due to a series of anomalies. From failure to register in the Revenue Agency register to the massive movement of cash, in some cases to subjects registered on the blacklists of European databases. However, according to the Italian media, the indictment that was launched by the judicial office did not lead anywhere due to the lack of verifiable elements in the Palestinian territories.
Moreover, in August 2022, an investigative report published by OFCS Report, an Italian observatory with expertise in national and international security, exposed a series of political connections regarding Hannoun, on a national and international level, including photos of him next to Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal.
In July 0f 2023, the Israeli Ministry of Defense asked the Italian police to seize Hannoun’s money. From the investigation conducted by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, it emerged that 500 thousand euros were available to the architect who in the past was accused by Israel, without any criminal repercussions, of hiding financial support to Palestinian suicide bombers.
These funds, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, are “the property of, or in any case a reward for, a terrorist organization.” Therefore, “they must be seized”. As explained by the Italian news site “Il Sussidiario”, over the years, and on several occasions, the Italian intelligence services received reports of strange movements of Mohammad Hannoun’s associations, in particular of money.
In March of 2024, Hannoun tried to bypass the closure of his accounts first by asking donors to bring cash money directly to his offices in Rome, Milan, and Genoa, and then through the help of Modestino Preziosi, a former marathon runner with connections to the private security sector in France and to a Baidoa-based university which hired Italian security personnel. The American news site “The Washington Outsider” tried to contact the South West State University, but did not receive any reply. Somalis in Baidoa who were asked about this activity, were unable to provide any information.
As illustrated last November to the Italian site “Panorama” by the investigative journalist Massimiliano Coccia, who has been following Hannoun’s movements for many years, the Shin Bet asked the Italian government to intervene against Hannoun, but Rome has never acted, not even the current government. The former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, asked for the seizure of over 700 thousand dollars present in Hannoun’s accounts and coming from the accounts of Palestinian terrorist organizations, but this has never been carried out.
Coccia then added:
“…we have always continued with a tracking work with open sources with respect to monitoring the web, with respect to the various accounts that he (Hannoun) opened. I wrote the articles and then the reports were sent out. Now, in a normal country, this would not be the norm and the practice”.
In early 2024, a new association named “Cupola d’Oro” (Golden Dome) was born and is utilizing the same bank account previously used by ABSPP, under a rebranded name. This means that “BancoPosta Poste Italiane SpA” (Italian Mail service) is currently providing financial services to an entity that is, in effect, operated by an OFAC-designated individual and organization.
It is also worth noting that “La Cupola d’Oro” continues to solicit funds through various means on social media, and Hannoun has officially confirmed raising approximately 2 million euros in recent months, as reported by the Italian press agency ANSA on January 28, 2025:
“The association (API) explains that one can contribute directly at its offices in Milan, Rome and Genoa, where Hannoun resides, or by making a bank transfer to the Associazione Benefica La Cupola d’oro. Last October Hannoun explained to ANSA that after the decision of the American department his personal bank and postal accounts and those linked to the associations of which he is president had been closed, but that the API had still managed to collect 2 million euros for humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population”.
Figure 3 ABSPP and Cupola d’Oro – same bank account
It is also important to recall that in October 2024, the European Leadership Network (Elnet) published a report on Hamas in Europe, dedicating the Italian part to Hannoun and associates (including Suleiman Hijazi, Raed Dawoud and Raed al Salahat), and exposing the links between Hannoun and individuals active in other European countries and indicated as linked to Hamas; among these, some of those who were sanctioned by the United States.
On the evening of October 8th, 2024, prosecutor Nicola Piacente stated that the Genoa Public Prosecutor’s Office could open a new investigation into Mohammad Hannoun if useful documentation for further investigation were to arrive from the United States. This is indeed good news, but a question logically arises: why do the Italian authorities require documentation from the United States, since Hannoun is active on Italian soil?
The issue was commented at the time, on The Times of Israel, by Giuseppe Levi Pezzulli, a UK-based solicitor specialized in international financial law and a foreign policy scholar, who said:
“For over a decade, Hannoun has been identified as a key figure in Hamas’s financial apparatus. His ability to continue operating in Italy without significant legal or regulatory pushback points to systemic failures. Italian authorities have long known of his connections to Hamas – dating back to at least 2013 – but have failed to act decisively”.
And again:
“In the wake of these sanctions, Italy faces a critical decision: continue with its current lax approach, or take concrete steps to dismantle the financial networks supporting Hamas… Failure to do so will only exacerbate the perception that Italy is a soft target for those seeking to exploit its financial systems for extremist ends”.
Hannoun’s online and offline propaganda
The Washington Outsider first raised the issue of Mohammad Hannoun on October 11th, 2023, one day after the individual, while being interviewed by the Italian national TV station Rai3, claimed that “Hamas’ attack is self-defense”; without any hesitation or concern that such a statement would go public.
A few days later, on October 13th, Hannoun took advantage of his role as imam at the Islamic Center of Genoa to attack those countries supporting Israel:
“We have seen the attitude of our Italian, European, American governments and some Arab countries who have sided in favor of Israel, who begin to cry for the victims, who even told the lie to encourage, to compare Hamas as equal to ISIS ”… All this, to attack the “Palestinian resistance”.
The video was posted on both, the Facebook page of the Islamic Center of Genoa and Hannoun’s Facebook account, but it later disappeared.
During a recent pro-Palestinian event in Rome, Hannoun also defined Hamas as “Palestinian partisans” and accused some Italian politicians of being Mossad agents.
Hannoun’s rhetoric did not go unnoticed and several Italian newspapers from both, left-wing and right-wing political areas such as La Repubblica, Il Foglio, La Verità, Linkiesta and Libero published articles exposing the issue.
On January 2nd, 2024, Hannoun posted the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood (God is our goal, The Messenger is our role model, The Qur’an is our constitution, Jihad is our path, Death for the sake of God is our highest aspiration) followed by the words: “It is not a slogan to raise or words to consume, but rather convictions. For its sake we live and for its sake we meet God”, and by the verses 23 and 24 of the Surah 33 (The Coalition).
On January 4th, Hannoun used his personal Facebook account to glorify Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’ notorious bombmaker, sadly known for both developing Hamas’s use of suicide bombings and building many of the explosives used in attacks:
“On this day, the cowardly assassination took place; Mercy to the martyrs; The legendary engineer martyr, who was a turning point in the history of the Palestinian resistance; Yahya Ayyash Abu Al-Baraa. Palestine today is in dire need of your patriotic spirit and vengeance for the spirit of the martyr Sheikh Saleh Abu Muhammad. Martyrs do not die.”
The second-last line of Hannoun’s post is dedicated to Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon who died in a drone strike on January 2nd, 2024. The post was written in Arabic.
On November 9, 2024, during a speech in Milan, Hannoun, praised the perpetrators of the “Jew-hunt” that took place in Amsterdam on November 7th, when Islamist thugs attacked the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans after the game against Ajax. The statement was made during a pro-Pal demonstration in Milan on Saturday November 9th.
Hannoun, microphone in hand, in front of a crowd displaying Palestinian flags and a photo of Yahya Sinwar, said:
“First of all, let’s send a round of applause to the youth of Amsterdam. A round of applause to all the young people, boys and girls, who have taught a lesson”, applauding the “lesson” given to the Jews in the Dutch capital. Following these claims, Hannoun was reported by the police and received a banishment order from Milan, but continues to be active in other parts of Italy.
It is yet unclear why an individual who is under US sanctions and indicated as “Hamas’ money collector in Italy” is still able to collect money, ask for cash donations, and advertise donations from his social media accounts. It is also unclear why Italy is relying on US documentation to reopen the investigation. It is worth recalling that Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union, therefore, any activity supporting it requires immediate action, just like it has so far been done with other blacklisted organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.