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US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

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Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#41

I'm curious why PayPal bans Palestinians. It's not like they want to limit their addressable market. Seems likely related to OFAC, which is tough to google casually https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-inf... Nothing specific to Palestine on the country programs, but OFAC explains further that our sanctions are much more complicated than country-by-country here: https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions…

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Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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> Palestinian government does pay its citizens if they kill an Israel in a suicide attack I assume Israel dosent provide any survivor benefits for it's soldiers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Authority_Martyrs_...

Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Palestinian government does pay its citizens if they kill an Israel in a suicide attack I assume Israel dosent provide any survivor benefits for it's soldiers?

these aren’t solders on either end. If a Palestinian non combatant resident kills an Israeli child. The Palestinian or their surviving family will get a payment. And yes, many Israeli children have been killed through such programs.

If a Israeli kills a Palestinian child (like this [0]) and is later killed himself, would his family receive survivorship benefits?

If Palestinian fighting men aren't soldiers does that mean Israel is killing non combatants?

[0]https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/eight-palestinian-chil...

Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#46

I've had absolutely terrible experiences with Palpal. Lawmakers should be urging everyone to use a better service, forget worrying about PayPal's ban. The last straw for me was when they blocked a transaction of a few hundred dollars without any explaination. I was talking to a support rep for well over an hour, repeatedly being told that there is no security team at PayPal that can see why a transaction was blocked…

> I've had absolutely terrible experiences with Palpal. Lawmakers should be urging everyone to use a better service, forget worrying about PayPal's ban. I'd rather have the government enforce something like user-friendly free globally available instant payment and settlement system. Then none of these shady services would be required. Fox example, a version of SWIFT, but instant, free and distributed.

This is available today and already used by millions. It's USDC/LUSD on Ethereum/Polygon/Tron (pick your chain based on desired cost and security requirements).

The US government will never endorse it or allow major banks to give their full support through because they want control over the network to "keep the bad guys out".

Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the U.S. government has the right to force a company to operate in another country.

However they do have the power to end a boycott, either directly or indirectly (see the laws passed by various states regarding refusing to do business with Israel).

The ones that criminalize participating in a boycott? A fourth grader can identity those as flatly unconstitutional.

Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#49
post #7

Given the recent seizure of crypto accounts funnelling money to Hamas and Iran[0], this seems pretty sensible, to funnel more financial activity in the region onto platforms that have good AML/ATF processes. [0]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-seizes-30-crypto-wallet...

It might as well be that the only reason why Iran and others are active in Palestine is because it’s blockaded.

Re: US lawmakers urge PayPal to end ban on Palestinians in Occupied Territories

#50
post #2

I wish lawmakers would urge (or force?) PayPal to actually give you a detailed reason when they freeze your account and effectively confiscate your money. I still have hundreds of dollars tied up in the limbo of "your account is frozen but we won't tell you why."

It's the other way around. If you're flagged for AML investigation, telling you it would be tipping off and explicitely illegal.

If you are engaged in money laundering then the very fact that your funds were frozen is enough of the tip-off. If you’re not then they might as well tell you about their suspicions. If you were mixed up in some money laundering scheme involuntarily you might even be willing to help the investigation
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