Dutch court acquits alleged Hamas financier due to 'insufficient' evidence

A Dutch court in Rotterdam on Wednesday acquitted Amin Abu Rashid (58), who was accused of financing Hamas, citing what it described as insufficient evidence to prove that the funds he transferred to Gaza benefited the terrorist organization.

The court acknowledged that Abu Rashid had transferred money to the Gaza Strip between 2010 and 2023, with prosecutors alleging the total amounted to approximately €8 million ($US9.3 million). However, the judges said it had not been sufficiently established that the funds reached Hamas or were intended for the group. The court also said it was unclear whether Abu Rashid knew Hamas could benefit from the transfers.

At the same time, the court convicted Abu Rashid of evading sanctions and operating the banned al-Aqsa Foundation through the Israa Foundation. The European Union imposed sanctions on the al-Aqsa Foundation in 2014 over alleged ties to Hamas.

Abu Rashid was sentenced to a suspended six-month prison term with a one-year probation period. Dutch prosecutors had sought a three-year prison sentence.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) blasted the court’s ruling as "surprising and shocking.” CIDI said it was “incomprehensible” and that the defendant should reasonably have been aware of the alleged links between Hamas and the sanctioned foundation.

"We are talking about someone who frequently visited Gaza, had contacts with Hamas figures, and was active in this network for years. Surely that falls broadly under conditional intent, certainly given the entire file. It is truly bizarre that the court rules this way," CIDI wrote on 𝕏.

Abu Rashid has not hidden his hostile activism against the Jewish state.

"My job is to bring Israel down," Abu Rashid acknowledged in a video clip filmed and released by an undercover agent from the Israeli investigative NGO Ad Kan. “That’s my job,” he added.

Prior to the court’s ruling, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service said Abu Rashid had played “a leading and decisive role in the collection and the ultimate destination of the funds” and evaded sanctions against Hamas by “using intermediary structures to channel money to Hamas."

However, on Wednesday, the group, Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGNL), urged supporters to protest outside the Rotterdam Court against what it claimed was the work of the “Zionist lobby” meant to "silence critical voices and solidarity with Palestine."

"This is not just about one person, but about the right to speak out against injustice, occupation, and oppression. The criminalization of solidarity must never become normalized," PGNL wrote on Instagram.

The Israeli government has for years argued that Abu Rashid is a senior official working on behalf of Hamas in Europe. In 2023, U.S. authorities arrested Abu Rashid and his daughter for their alleged work to finance Hamas terrorism. Abu Rashid has a long history of anti-Israel activism. In 2010, he took part in the MV Mavi Marmara flotilla against Israel.

The Trump administration brokered a Gaza ceasefire in October 2025, which stipulates that Hamas must disarm as a prerequisite for reconstructing Gaza. However, Hamas leaders have systematically refused to disarm. The American-backed Gaza Board of Peace recently criticized Hamas for refusing to disarm and presented the terror group as the main obstacle to rebuilding post-war Gaza.