Posted on 12/22/2004 11:45:24 PM PST by kattracks
Here's a sobering thought: If you ever hurled a bowling ball at any of the pins at Greenwich Village's Bowl mor Lanes, you might have been subsidizing terror.Or, at least, contributing to Yasser Arafat's hopes for a nice profit on funds he . . . ummm, "invested" — as opposed to improving the circumstances of impoverished Palestinians.
That's the upshot of a report this week from Bloomberg Markets magazine, which details the far-flung investments made on behalf of the late and unlamented Palestinian terror chief.
The report says Arafat "diverted" — that is, skimmed — tax revenue from the Palestinian finance ministry and used the cash to buy stakes in companies around the world, including in America.
In the past two years, it seems, Palestinian Authority documents disclosed some $799 million in investments.
"At a time when the authority was starved for funds," the report notes, "Arafat's money managers placed bets from Tel Aviv to Silicon Valley on venture capital funds, software startups and telecommunications companies."
[snip]
Similarly misguided sentiments are typified by the Peace Technology Fund, which was set up in 1998 and raised money from the World Bank, and even Israelis, for investments to spur growth in the Palestinian business sector.
"The idea was the private-sector development and growth would promote peace," says Tel Aviv-based Tirza Florentin, who managed the fund.
Arafat showed just how much he thought of that scheme when he allowed a wave of terror — which has killed at least 1,000 Israelis and 3,500 Palestinians — to break out in September 2000.
It was personal profits before regional peace for the bloody-fisted terrorist.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Yep,
Yasser is the gift that keeps on giving.....
BTW, I read (think it was the Wall street Journal--will find the story later and post link) that Yasser might have nipped as much as 6 billion.
Infatada was quite the profitable game for him, eh?
Now the jokes will start. "Gutter Balls", "Head Pins","Backdoor Spare"; I can see it all.
The Masri family has participated in a lot of transactions involving Arafat. Always to their great benefit. Google the MEMRI site for all the convoluted deals.
The Palestinians are their own worst enemy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.