The documents cite an Israeli law enabling the military to issue a “temporary seizure of property of a declared terrorist organization,” including cryptocurrencies.
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been accused of seizing “all funds from all Palestinians” on a request from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The exchange has denied the allegation, insisting it targeted only a “limited” number of accounts over “illicit funds.”
The accusation was first raised by Ray Youssef, the CEO of peer-to-peer crypto marketplace NoOnes and co-founder of crypto platform Paxful, on Monday.
The crypto entrepreneur took to X to directly accuse Binance of seizing the funds of all Palestinians.
“Binance has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied,” Youssef claimed, citing several sources and a letter from the Israeli authorities said to have been circulated by Binance.
The letter, signed in November 2023 by Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, Paul Landes, was allegedly referred to by the platform in response to Palestinian users who appealed the block.
The documents cite an Israeli law enabling the military to issue a “temporary seizure of property of a declared terrorist organization,” including cryptocurrencies.
Youssef wrote: “Binance has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied. Your funds are SAFU at.
“In accordance with the authority delegated to me by the Minister of Defense, according to Section 61(a) of the Law on Combating Terrorism, 556- 2016 (hereinafter: “The Law on the Fight against Terrorism”) and further to your application as a reference, I would like to inform you that your claims against Seizure of property by virtue of an administrative seizure order (T56/23) signed by the Minister of Defense on November 1, 2023 by virtue of his authority according to the law, were examined by and rejected for the following reasons:
“Section 56(b) of the Anti-Terrorism Law states, among other things, that the Minister of Defense may issue an order on Temporary seizure of property of a declared terrorist organization, as well as seizure of property that was used to commit a crime Serious terrorism or property where a serious terrorist offense was committed.
“At the basis of the administrative seizure order (Tt56/23) is reliable intelligence information that teaches that wallets of cryptocurrencies, including one that is registered in your name, funds have been transferred by an organization.
“The declared terrorism of the Dubai Exchange Company in the Gaza Strip (declared on March 7, 2022, published in the 10084 p. 2505 on 4.4.2022).
“According to the anti-terrorism law, cryptographic currencies that have been transferred by a declared terrorist organization constitute property of a declared terrorist organization and cryptocurrency wallets to which it has been transferred Said property constitutes property that was directly used to commit a serious terrorist offense of providing a service or Establishing measures for a terrorist organisation, as defined in the Law on Combating Terrorism, and therefore in accordance with the instructions. The law allows the Minister of Defense to order their seizure by administrative order in preparation for their confiscation.
“In light of the above, and if nothing is found in your claims to contradict the information that formed the basis of issuing an order. The seizure, I intend to recommend to the Minister of Defense to order the confiscation of the property for which the seizure order was issued, in accordance with the authority of the Minister of Defense according to section 66(a) of the law. 5.
“According to the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law, an appeal against this decision will be submitted as a petition to the Court of Matters administrative.”
The measure is expected to affect not only Palestinians, but citizens of other countries bordering Israel, Youssef alleged.
“All Palestinians are affected and judging by the way things are going all Lebanese and Syrians will get the same treatment. Not your keys, not your coins,” Youssef claimed.
According to RT, Binance has firmly rejected the allegations, with its CEO Richard Teng dismissing the reports as “FUD” – spreading of “fear, uncertainty, and doubt.”
“Only a limited number of user accounts, linked to illicit funds, were blocked from transacting. There have been some incorrect statements about this,” Teng wrote on X on Wednesday, reiterating the platform’s compliance with “internationally accepted anti-money laundering legislation.”
The Binance boss, however, has not elaborated on the number of users affected or the volume of funds “frozen” on their accounts. Palestinians have only a minor presence on the platform.
The share of traffic from Palestine amounted to only some 0.05% of total traffic over the past year, the Cointelegraph online outlet reported, citing statistics data collected by the website analytics source SimilarWeb.