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Qatar is facing renewed scrutiny over its long-running financial relationship with the Hamas terrorist organization, prompting Doha to issue two categorical denials in recent days that it ever provided money to the group.
“Qatar has never provided money to Hamas,” the country’s media office declared on September 18. Three days later, Qatar repeated the denial while threatening legal action against The New Yorker over its reporting on Qatar’s relationship with Hamas.
Qatar’s sweeping assertion sits uneasily beside a long public record. Qatari money financed salaries and public services under Hamas rule, Hamas leaders publicly thanked Qatar for hundreds of millions of dollars in support, and a senior U.S. Treasury official stated in 2014 that Qatar had “for many years openly financed Hamas.”
Treasury Identified a Qatar-Based Hamas Financier
In March 2014, U.S. Treasury stated that Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas.”
Treasury documented a separate Qatar-based Hamas financing operation in October 2023, when it sanctioned Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Dayim Nasrallah. Treasury described Nasrallah as a “longtime Hamas operative based in Qatar with close ties to Iranian elements” and said he had participated in transferring tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, including its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Qatar’s Ministry Published Hamas’ Thanks
Qatar’s own Foreign Ministry documented Hamas leaders thanking the emir for Qatari money. In February 2021, the ministry published an Arabic press release titled “Hamas in the Gaza Strip Thanks His Highness the Emir for the Generous Support.”
The report said a Hamas delegation including Yahya Sinwar, Rouhi Mushtaha and Khalil al-Hayya met Qatar’s Gaza envoy and thanked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for a $360 million grant. It added that Hamas’ leadership praised the “generous and continuous support” provided by Qatar.
Qatari state reporting said the money would support “vital and important projects in all sectors.”
“Ambassador Al-Emadi affirmed that the State of Qatar stands by the Palestinian people and will continue to provide support to Palestinians on all levels.”
— Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
Qatari Money Supported Government Salaries and Services
The financial relationship stretches back much further.
In September 2006, months after Hamas won Palestinian elections and formed a government under Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center reported that $50 million in Qatari assistance had arrived following a conversation between Haniyeh and then-Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The same post said the government was preparing salary payments for civilian and military employees. It effectively records Qatari state money reaching the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
During the emir’s 2012 visit to Gaza, Haniyeh announced that Qatar’s reconstruction grant had risen to $400 million. Speaking under the slogan “one hand resists, one hand liberates, and one hand builds,” he described the emir’s visit as breaking Gaza’s political and economic isolation.
By January 2016, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry reported that more than $230 million of an earlier $407 million reconstruction grant had been spent.
Later that year, Qatar provided a separate $31 million grant to pay one month of salaries to more than 23,000 Hamas-appointed “civilian employees.” The payments were distributed under U.N. supervision, and members of Gaza’s security forces were expressly excluded.
“arrangements through Qatar and others perpetuate and exacerbate the Palestinian division.”
— Wassel Abu Yousef, member of the PLO Executive Committee
Beginning in 2018, Qatar delivered recurring cash payments into Gaza with Israel’s approval. One $15 million installment paid roughly 27,000 civil servants and offered Hamas what Reuters described as a potential domestic reprieve. The broader Qatari program also funded fuel for Gaza’s power plant.
Whatever label Doha places on the payments, the record is difficult to square with its categorical claim that it “never provided money to Hamas.” Doha can argue that the money was intended for Gaza’s population rather than Hamas’s military apparatus, but that does not jibe with its own public record of Hamas leaders thanking Qatar for hundreds of millions of dollars in support, Qatari funds paying salaries under Hamas rule, and the U.S. Treasury stating that Qatar had “for many years openly financed Hamas.”
Qatar and assoc paid trump and kusher's businesses about $30 billion to sell out israel by demaninf=g Israel allows hamas to only Partially disarm in phases. all overseen by pro palestinian anti Israel nations-- Qatar along with the saudi's and the UAE for the most part controll the naratve of ms news cnn news max disney warner bros nbc universal discover own more land in london than the royal family the are in essence an empire more evil and powerful than rome. And all this under the radar many of Trumps cabinet and others elected have worked for companies that had ties to Qatar Susie Wiles kash Patel are just 2. and many elected dems. Qatar ids a jew hating Israel hatig Monster