---
alias:
- Sabri al-Banna
- Sabri Al-Bannah
born: 1937
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-09-23
died: 2002
location: Jaffa, British Mandate Palestine
relations:
- fn: 2
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Abu Nidal Organization]]'
summary: Palestinian terrorist and target of Israeli intelligence operations, connected
  to the Achille Lauro attack and arms trafficking networks, whose organization was
  financed through BCCI in London.
tags:
- Person
- ArmsDealer
- Israel
- BCCI
- Terrorism
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Abu Nidal, whose real name was Sabri al-Banna, was a Palestinian terrorist and the leader of the [Abu Nidal Organization](/organizations/abu-nidal-organization/). He was a target of [Israeli](/places/israel/) intelligence operations. According to the former Israeli intelligence officer [Ari Ben-Menashe](/people/ari-ben-menashe/), arms dealers like [John Knight](/people/john-knight/) and [Sidem International Limited](/organizations/sidem-international-limited/) acquired arms from Yugoslavia and sold them to [Mohammed Radi Abdullah](/people/mohammed-radi-abdullah/), who in turn sold them to Nidal and other Palestinian groups. Radi was unaware of [Pearson's](/people/anthony-pearson/) Israeli connection.[^1]

Ben-Menashe wrote that Radi later presented his case to Nidal in [Baghdad](/places/baghdad/), claiming he had been unwittingly used by Pearson. Nidal believed his story and put out the word that Radi was "clean," placing the blame on [Yasser Arafat's](/people/yasser-arafat/) group.[^1]

Ben-Menashe also wrote that Nidal was involved in the [Achille Lauro](/events/achille-lauro/) attack in 1985, which he described as an Israeli "black" propaganda operation. In his account, [Rafi](/organizations/rafi/) passed instructions to Radi, who then relayed orders to [Abul Abbas](/people/abul-abbas/) to carry out a cruel attack. Abbas was reportedly receiving millions from Israeli intelligence officers posing as Sicilian dons.[^1] These accounts rest on Ben-Menashe's book alone.

### BCCI

Abu Nidal's accounts were held at the Sloane Street branch in [London](/places/london/) of the [Bank of Credit and Commerce International](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/) (BCCI), whose manager, [Ghassan Qassem](/people/ghassan-qassem/), passed information on them to British and American intelligence. A [State Department](/organizations/state-department/) report of July 1987, "Abu Nidal's Terror Network," stated that the organization's commercial network was run from the INTRACO building in Warsaw by Samir Hasan Najm al-Din (Samir Najmeddin), who held "a general account at a major West European Bank [BCCI in London]" and was "responsible for forwarding all major contracts to Sabri al-Banna for final approval."[^2] The [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) learned, in an operation against BCCI that ran from 1986 to 1990, of the bank's role in "handling the finances of Sabri Al-Bannah or Abu Nidal, and his terrorist organization."[^3] According to the [Kerry-Brown Senate Report](/events/bcci-kerry-brown-senate-report/), by 1986 "the State Department knew that the terrorist Abu Nidal was using the bank to finance his operations in Europe."[^4]

After BCCI's closure in July 1991, a British judge, on the application of the bank's liquidators, refused to let the Senate subcommittee receive BCCI documents held in the [United Kingdom](/places/united-kingdom/) without the written "permission" of the depositors concerned, "such as Abu Nidal." In July 1991 *[The Guardian](/organizations/the-guardian/)*, quoting what it described as a confidential French intelligence document of February 1988, reported that the Kuwaiti embassy in London had paid 60 million dollars into Abu Nidal's BCCI account in 1987.[^3][^5]

[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality" (quoting "Abu Nidal's Terror Network," U.S. Department of State, July 1987). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 16, "BCCI and Georgia Politicians." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/16ga.htm
[^5]: "Daily Says Kuwait Put $60 Million Into Nidal's BCCI Account." *Deseret News* (wire report), July 25, 1991. https://www.deseret.com/1991/7/25/18932483/daily-says-kuwait-put-60-million-into-nidal-s-bcci-account/