Why Netanyahu helped fund Hamas and how that backfired for Israel
Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas. It is, however, ironical that Israel's governments under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consciously channelised funds to Hamas and helped it gain the strength and power that it has today. But why did Israel do so and how did its calculations go awry?
Benjamin Netanyahu's government worked with the singular purpose of trying to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state, according to experts. It also sought to buy peace by giving Gaza residents a glimpse of a better life by funneling money and providing work permits.
The issue of funneling "Qatari money" to Hamas by the Israeli government was mentioned in public by Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, in an address on October 20. Al-Faisal's remarks came after Hamas terrorists on October 7 butchered over a thousand Israelis and took over 200 hostages.
That the Netanyahu government has been working against the formation of an independent Palestinian state has been clear for years. The creation of Israeli settlements deep within the West Bank negates the scope of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The West Bank is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas. Gaza, the other Palestinian territory, has been under Hamas's control since the 2006 elections. Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority's Fatah in that election.
That Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was against a Palestinian state was reported as recently as July by The Jerusalem Post.
"Palestinian hopes of establishing a sovereign state must be eliminated," Netanyahu told members of a parliament committee in a closed-door meeting, according to The Jerusalem Post. Netanyahu's remarks came as he was discussing plans for a scenario that did not have Mahmoud Abbas at the helm of the Palestinian Authority.
"Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organisation with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad," writes Schneider.
Hamas has several sources of funds, but money from Qatar is the mainstay.
If Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israel didn't create Frankenstein's monster, it for sure helped nourish it. This is why Israel funneled Qatari money to Gaza as Hamas lulled it into a false sense of security and its citizens paid a heavy price for the miscalculation.
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Biden is right. Do not fall into supporting Netanyahu's attempt to get us into a regional war.