Interpol & Their Possible Role in Extraditing Hamas Leaders

As occurrences of global terrorism continue to dramatically rise around the world, many countries have been utilizing the services of Interpol to assist in apprehending international fugitives, assorted terrorists and various other miscreants who threaten the safety of our civilization.

For those not in the know, Interpol, (short for the International Criminal Police Organization) stands as a cornerstone of international law enforcement, fostering global police collaboration and crime control efforts. This worldwide entity, headquartered in Lyon, France, comprises a vast network of law enforcement agencies spanning 195 member states.

Interpol operates in three major domains of transnational crime: counterterrorism, combating cybercrime, and addressing organized crime. Its vast jurisdiction encompasses virtually every type of crime, from terrorism and cyberattacks to human rights abuses, drug trafficking, political corruption, intellectual property infringements, and financial crimes. One of its vital functions is to facilitate cooperation among national law enforcement agencies through the sharing of criminal databases and communication networks. Contrary to a common misconception, Interpol is not a law enforcement agency in itself, but rather a coordinator and facilitator of international police efforts.

Having said this, one wonders where the United States has the legal right to call upon the services of Interpol in order to seek the extradition of Hamas leaders throughout the length and breadth of the globe and especially those living in Qatar, Israel’s “West Bank” (also known as Judea and Samaria), Europe and South America.

For all intents and purposes,  Hamas leaders are terrorists of the worst order whose diabolical schemes have resulted in international war crimes being committed against civilian populations as was evidenced in the barbaric slaying of over 1400 Israelis on October 7th that can only be described as a pogrom of mammoth proportions.

As it turns out, such malevolent authority figures as Turkish President Recep Erdogan utilize the services of Interpol for his own highly suspect and nefarious purposes.

One distinctive feature of Interpol is its commitment to political neutrality, in line with its charter. The organization refrains from intervening in political, military, religious, or racial matters and avoids becoming embroiled in disputes of such nature. This dedication to remaining apolitical enables Interpol to carry out its mission effectively, which is to support law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Financially, Interpol maintains an annual budget of approximately €142 million, primarily funded by contributions from its member police forces in 181 countries. Governance within Interpol is overseen by a General Assembly, comprising representatives from all member nations, who elect the executive committee and the President, currently held by Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi from the United Arab Emirates.

According to a July 2023 report on the JustSecurity.org web site, “Erdoğan has successfully pressured Sweden and Finland to extradite his critics in return for NATO membership. A new presidential term only emboldens him to continue along the path of trying to silence critics, no matter where in the world they have landed after fleeing persecution in Turkey. Under Erdoğan, the government has increasingly misused extradition processes, and by extension, manipulated Interpol’s international police-coordination mechanisms. While the organization has taken some steps to prevent Turkey’s abuse of Interpol’s “red notice” system, Turkish authorities continue to use a different Interpol mechanism to round up critics from abroad by misusing Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Document (SLTD) system, which is subject to less internal scrutiny and checks.”

The report added  that “in a recent open letter addressed to Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, JustSecurity.org and 23 other human rights lawyers and defenders called on the organization to take a more robust approach to protect human rights by addressing the misuse of the SLTD database by Turkish authorities. According to documents leaked from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization and published in February 2019 by the Nordic Research Monitoring Network, an investigative outlet run by two former Turkish journalists in exile, it is clear that Turkey is abusing Interpol’s SLTD system to bypass a set of restrictions imposed in 2018 on Turkey’s use of other Interpol systems such as Red Notices.”

The report added that “the Turkish authorities misuse the SLTD system by recording the passports of dissidents as lost, stolen, revoked, or invalid, in an attempt to have those people deported to Turkey when they travel. Since the attempted coup in 2016, the Turkish government has unlawfully cancelled tens of thousands of passports despite its constitutional court ruling that passport revocations and travel bans can only be imposed with a court order, and not by police or government officials. There is little doubt that those detained for unlawfully cancelled passports would face reprisals at the hands of the current regime.”

We ask that the United States, which clearly does not have a record of manipulating Interpol, call upon their policing services in order to round up these Hamas war criminals and bring them to justice.

Last week, two American hostages were released from Hamas captivity.  Now that Hamas truly comprehends that there is absolutely no daylight whatsoever between the US and Israel in this existential battle for the future of Western civilization as we know it, it appears that Hamas might very well be interested in playing ball with the US by releasing some hostages in exchange for time needed to rearm through the ‘humanitarian aid’ that is now getting into Gaza.

If that be the case, why can’t the United States confer citizenship on the 200 plus hostages that are still being held by Hamas in order that their path to freedom be without the perfunctory political snarls or frustrating gridlock.

Time is of the essence, and it would behoove the United States to move quickly in terms of assisting in bringing Hamas leaders to justice and to securing the release of the over 200 hostages being held in a spider web of tunnels in Gaza by the bloodthirsty, sadistic barbarians known as Hamas. With each passing the day, the fate of the remaining hostages becomes increasingly uncertain and with that comes the kind of anxiety that is beyond palpable.

Unless the US or Israel plans to physically storm Hamas’ cavernous web of tunnels and free the hostages with their own might, then the US ought to seriously consider granting citizenship to these hostages to save their lives.  If successful, America will have won the first half of this war for freedom from tyrants. The second part of this war will focus on putting Hamas leadership behind bars while disemboweling their infrastructure. This can and ultimately will secure our future while sending a clear message to other terrorists who wish to use this as a fear tactic.