Another Wikileaks cable from the US State Department notes that 3 weeks before Israel unleashed the Gaza onslaught in 2008, the American government was pushing Israel to allow more cash into Gaza as the Palestinian Authority had requested:
Econoff called Udi Levi, Counterterrorism Finance Bureau Director at the National Security Council (NSC) and a senior intelligence officer on December 2 to press for release of NIS 250 million to the Gaza banking system, as requested by the Palestinian Monetary Authority…
And the Israeli response? The money was just helping Hamas, a terrorist regime (by the way, even Andrew Sullivan rationalizes this designation), and therefore–
USG interlocutors at all levels have been urging the GOI to provide the needed December salary payments and greater certainty to Gaza,s banking sector going forward. Most recently, Charge raised the NIS 250 million request with COGAT/MOD PolMil Director Amos Gilad evening of December 3. Gilad,s response was, “Theyre not getting a dime”.
