Israeli World Domination

Payoneer is headed by Yuval Tal, who in a 2006 Fox News interview was identified as a former member of the Israeli special forces.......

The U.S. bank linked by Dubai police to the slaying of a top Hamas commander said Wednesday that prepaid credit cards allegedly used by the hit team were provided through a partner company, and that the bank's own procedures did not flag the card users as suspicious.

Authorities in Dubai had earlier tied MetaBank to its partner Payoneer Inc., though neither police nor the companies had clarified the relationship or described how the alleged assassins acquired the cards. Payoneer works with MetaBank to provide credit cards that employers can top up to pay their employees.

MetaBank, part of Storm Lake, Iowa-based Meta Financial Group Inc., said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the cards police say were involved in the Dubai killing were issued through that employee payment program, not through one of its retail bank branches.

Funds were then loaded onto those cards by outside companies "using direct deposit for payroll, disbursements, and other compensation," the bank said.

MetaBank has launched an internal review of compliance with bank and regulatory requirements, and said it has found no signs of wrongdoing. It said the names of the people taking out the cards were not on a prohibited user watch list maintained by the U.S. Treasury Dept.'s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"Standardized steps were taken in accordance with applicable regulations and industry standards to validate cardholder identities prior to card issuance," the bank said. "The individuals named were not on the OFAC list, and no other readily apparent method existed for Meta to determine that identity theft had been perpetrated on valid governments and their citizens."

MetaBank spokeswoman Lisa Binder said she did not know which companies loaded funds onto the cards, and declined to comment beyond what was in the statement.

Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in a Dubai hotel room Jan. 20. Police claim some of the hit team, which includes at least 26 suspects, used credit cards obtained with fraudulent passports to pay for plane tickets and Dubai hotels. Dubai police linked many of the cards to MetaBank and its partner Payoneer.

Payoneer provides prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank and other lenders. The company is based in New York and has a research and development center in Tel Aviv, raising suspicions of Israeli involvement in the killing.

Israel's Mossad spy agency is widely suspected of carrying out the Jan. 19 slaying, though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. At least 15 of the suspected killers — who used falsified passports of real people — share names with Israeli citizens.

Dubai's police chief has repeatedly blamed Israeli spy agency Mossad for the killing of al-Mabhouh, who Israel accuses of smuggling weapons to Hamas militants controlling the Gaza Strip.

Payoneer is headed by Yuval Tal, who in a 2006 Fox News interview was identified as a former member of the Israeli special forces.

Payoneer has said it was cooperating with authorities but has declined further comment. It has not made Tal available to discuss the company's involvement.