Senators Balk at Board of Peace’s Bitcoin Grift for Gaza

Four senators raised doubts April 17 about Donald Trump’s stratagems for cryptocurrency, aka a stablecoin, in Gaza. Their press release that day makes clear that Oregon’s dem senator Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) quite sensibly fret over the ethics of this shady move “given the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas,” as press aides termed it. Between Israel and Hamas? How about between Israel and Gaza’s residents, whom Jerusalem has been massacring and starving ever since this so-called truce took effect? But hey, half a loaf’s better than none: it’s great that someone in officialdom is calling out this swindle and its relation to atrocious Israeli behavior.

Corruption is the senator’s main concern. However, they also worry that stablecoin use in Gaza will further aggravate the enclave’s separation from the West Bank, where Israeli shekels are the currency. The lawmakers also ask, “Has the ‘Board of Peace’ consulted with the Palestine Monetary Authority on the introduction of this stablecoin? Have Palestinian officials had the opportunity to provide input on the development of this stablecoin? [I would bet no]…Would the stablecoin be used to surveil the transactions of Palestinians?” And they have other questions, as who in their right mind wouldn’t?

Of particular concern to these four lawmakers is the involvement of a former Israeli intelligence official, Liran Tancman, notable for his role in founding the disastrous, blood-drenched Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The GHF, you may recall, “distributed” food to Gazans, while somehow not preventing 1200 Palestinians from being murdered by the IDF. The senators reference this as “Mr. Tancman’s failed record of privatizing traditional humanitarian functions through GHF.” That’s the understatement of the year. “What is Liran Tancman’s role in the development and implementation of this stablecoin?” The legislators ask. “What are his official duties at the ‘Board of Peace?’ Does Mr. Tancman stand to benefit financially from its creation? If so, how? What ethics and financial disclosures, if any, did Mr. Tancman complete before serving as an ‘unpaid advisor’ to the Board of Peace?” My guess would be zero, as appears customary with many of the Trump white house’s fly-by-night financial endeavors.

In fact, sleazy possibilities abound with this novel money arrangement for Gaza. The senators note that a “Board-controlled stablecoin could give external actors unprecedented influence over Gaza’s financial system…Meanwhile the use of stablecoin increases the ability of external actors to restrict financial transactions among Gaza residents” The press release cites Merkley’s long-standing “alarm over Trump’s crypto corruption.” The subterfuge to foist such venality on Gaza has long been in the works as part of reconstruction efforts. A strange way to reconstruct, to put it mildly.

The senators’ press release contains the text of their letter to secretary of state Marco “Bilk Gaza” Rubio. “You serve on the ‘Executive Board…'” they write. “Thus far, the Board appears to have made minimal meaningful progress in rebuilding Gaza [does it even intend to do this?]; it did, however, recently present a slide deck at the World Economic Forum in Davos pitching a $25 billion plan to build ‘gleaming skyscrapers rising on Gaza’s coast and the construction of entirely new cities’ in the enclave.” Sounds like Trump hasn’t given up on his ghastly Gaza Riviera project, and Palestinians can only hope that he’ll be so distracted by his multiple blockades in Iran, Cuba and who knows where else, that he won’t have time to further immiserate these destitute people; all as Israelis continue to wage their war of attrition against the Gazans, whittling down the population as they commit massacres, refuse entry to food trucks and brazenly, illegally expand the area of the enclave under their official control.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Board of Empire has done its true, intended job, namely kicking Gaza not only off the front page, but, it seems, out of the news altogether. Except in venues like the Middle East Eye, which reported April 19 on the emotional torture endured by families of missing Gazan children, who leave home to do things like collect firewood, make the dreadful error of approaching Israeli troops and, presto, disappear. As one mother told the publication, “I feel like I am going crazy. The anguish I feel is unbearable.”

For any unthinking soul who doubts that a parent could lose her mind over a murdered child, read the account in this story. “Around 2900 Palestinian children…have gone missing in the war-torn enclave since the Israeli genocide began,” MEE reports. In addition to these kids’ awful deaths or disappearances, spare a thought for the over 2900 parents, whose minds and lives these living nightmares destroy. And that, of course, is not to mention the parents of the over 20,000 Gazan children murdered by the IDF, whose fate is not at all uncertain.

The “Board of Peace” has muffled all this, as was intended. Which is why it would be nice, if someone, like maybe the four previously mentioned, quite intelligently concerned senators, could rein it in. They argue that the stablecoin proposal entails risk of conflicts of interest (surprise!). “World Liberty Financial – founded by President Trump and his sons, and Steve Witkoff and his sons – continues to promote its own stablecoin, USD1,” which makes it a likely choice for Gaza. “Another option is Tether, ‘the most popular stablecoin in the world.’ Tether has deep connections to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, holds a five percent stake in the company.” Well, that reeks.

The senators note that “Gaza’s financial system is under extraordinary strain” and that support of it is needed, “but that support must augment, not undermine, the ability of the Palestinian people to govern themselves and be free of conflicts of interest.” Unfortunately, the whole purpose of the Board is to promote conflicts of interest. Writing to Rubio, the lawmakers try to curb this with eight requests for detailed responses by April 24.

First, they ask for provision of the proposal to launch stablecoin; then whether the U.S. pledged “any monetary support for stablecoin in Gaza and if so the statute for this pledge” (always good to know), “along with the expected source of funds;” info on the role of World Liberty Financial, particularly Steve Witkoff in this proposal; whether the Board’s partners, the National Committee on the Administration of Gaza and the office of the High Representative, have financial interests in stablecoin; Jared Kushners’s role in this stablecoin proposal; whether the Board checked with the Palestine Monetary Authority about using stablecoin (probably a no); “would stablecoin be used to surveil the transactions of Palestinians [probably a yes]?” And lastly the slew of inquires previously mentioned about Tancman’s role in the development and implementation of this stablecoin.

I seriously doubt Rubio will be able to answer these questions. If he attempts to, it seems most unlikely to me that he’ll do so forthrightly. Given that, the senators might want, pre-emptively, to demand the dissolution of this monstrosity, “the Board of Peace,” the Board of Genocide, the Board of Empire, or whatever you want to call it. Let’s wish them luck.