Qatar sent millions to Hamas for years and Netanyahu encouraged it. Here’s why

Hamas is Israel’s Enemy No 1. After the 7 October attacks, the Jewish nation has vowed to eliminate the Palestinian militant group. Now Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant says its army has encircled the last Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the terror operatives to surrender. More than two months into the war, reports suggest that Israel is fighting an enemy it created and Netanyahu had a role to play. It’s no secret that Hamas receives funds from some Arab nations and other organisations. Qatar has been a sympathiser, providing refuge to its leaders and sending millions of dollars every month to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. This money helped the Hamas government in the enclave. What’s shocking though is that Netanyahu was not only in the know-how of the payments but also encouraged them, according to a report by The New York Times (NYT). This was until September, a month before the terror attacks. A report by Israeli investigative organisation Shomrin and CNN says that concerns about the cash flow were raised by officials of the Israeli government but that did not change Netanyahu’s stance. We take a look at how and when these payments we made to Hamas and why the Israeli prime minister backed them. What do we know about Qatari payments to Hamas? It was in 2018 that Qatar started sending monthly funds to Gaza after negotiations with Israel. The money – $15 million – was delivered in suitcases by Qataris and it passed through Israeli territory, reports CNN. Israeli intelligence officers were the ones who escorted Qatari officials to Gaza. The money was used for public salaries and medical purposes, claimed Hamas. The payments started after the Palestinian Authority (PA), which rules in the West Bank, decided to cut the salaries of government employees in Gaza, an Israeli government source told the publication. Also read: The Business of Terror: Who funds Hamas, how does it get weapons? How was Netanyahu involved? In a Cabinet meeting in August 2018, Israel had okayed the deal with Qatar to send funds to Hamas. This was during Netanyahu’s previous tenure as prime minister. He was reportedly criticised by collation partners, who accused him of being soft on Hamas. He is said to have defended the plan, saying the deal was made by consulting security experts “to return calm” to Israeli villages in the south and to prevent a “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza, according to the CNN report. He believed that the money would help in maintaining peace in Gaza, which could encourage Hamas to focus on governing instead of fighting. [caption id=“attachment_13495492” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, on 10 December. In 2018, Israel approved the deal that permitted Qatar to send money to Gaza. AP[/caption] Why did Israel support the payments to Hamas? The Qatari payments have been discussed in the Israeli media widely. Israel was hoping that the money would keep Hamas in check. According to the NYT report, Netanyahu told Israeli journalist Dan Margalit in December 2012 that it was important to keep Hamas strong, as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. He believed that having two strong rivals would “lessen the pressure on him to negotiate toward a Palestinian state”. Shlomo Brom, a retired general and former deputy to Israel’s national security adviser, told NYT that an empowered Hamas helped Netanyahu avoid negotiating over a Palestinian state. “One effective way to prevent a two-state solution is to divide between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_13495552” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Palestinian children sell sweets in front of the rubble of a destroyed building in Jebaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip, on 28 November, during the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. AP[/caption] Netanyahu’s critics say that the payments were part of a strategy of “buying quiet” from Hamas and also propping it up the weaken the PA, which is internationally recognised. Israeli politicians and military and intelligence officers were largely on board with the decision to allow payments to Hamas, say reports. This is because they believed that Hamas was not interested or capable of carrying out a large-scale attack. However, the 7 October strikes proved that their thinking was flawed. Did Hamas use the money for the attacks? In September, weeks before the attacks, Mossad chief David Barnea met Qatari officials in Doha and was asked if Israel wanted the payments to continue. Since the Netanyahu government had decided to continue the policy, he said yes, reports NYT. According to Israeli intelligence officials, the Qatari money played a role in the success of the terror attacks. They believe Hamas could have diverted some of the funds toward its military operations, the report says. Apart from the money that Israel was aware of, Qatar reportedly also used other channels to secretly fund the Palestinian group’s military wing. [caption id=“attachment_13495572” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Hamas fighters in Gaza City in 2021. Israeli intelligence officials believe that the Palestinian group is likely to have diverted the money it received from Qatar toward its military wing. File photo/AP[/caption] What has Netanyahu said? Netanyahu has denied accusations that he allowed Qatar to strengthen Hamas to keep Palestinians divided. “It’s a big lie that I wanted to build [up] Hamas. Ridiculous,” he said in an interview with BILD and Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICO. “You don’t go to war three times with Hamas or do major military operations if you want to build up Hamas.” Multiple Israeli governments enabled money to go to Gaza for humanitarian reasons, not to strengthen Hamas, an official in Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, quoted by NYT. “Prime Minister Netanyahu acted to weaken Hamas significantly. He led three powerful military operations against Hamas which killed thousands of terrorists and senior Hamas commanders,” he added. How has Israel reacted to the reports? Netanyahu has been severely criticised for the policy that funded Hamas. Many believe that the payments made Hamas stronger and the attacks worse, reports CNN. Major General Amos Gilad, a former senior Israeli defence ministry official, was quoted as saying that while the plan was backed by the PM, it was not supported by the Israeli intelligence community. He said that he had opposed the decision to allow money to reach Hamas, saying the cash flow over the years was a “dramatic, tragic mistake”. [caption id=“attachment_13495602” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Protesters hold signs as they take part in a rally calling upon Benjamin Netanyahu to step down in Tel Aviv. His popularity has dropped with many blaming him for preventing the attacks. File photo/Reuters[/caption] The Israeli population has been criticising the PM since the attack with many believing that he failed to prevent it. A poll released last month revealed that only 27 per cent of Israelis believe that Netanyahu is the right person to run the government. The poll conducted by the Lazar Research Institute for the Israeli daily Maariv found that 49 per cent of Israelis believed that Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, is the best figure to lead the country’s government. What has Qatar said? Qatar has close ties with Hamas and the West, including the United States. It played a crucial role in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which allowed for the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners amid the ongoing war. The Qatar government has denied accusations of funding Hamas’s military wing. “Any attempt to cast a shadow of uncertainty about the civilian and humanitarian nature of Qatar’s contributions and their positive impact is baseless,” a Qatari official was quoted as saying by NYT. With inputs from agencies