Hamas: the role of Qatar 2023/11/04

The last world soccer championship brought into the vocabulary of millions of people the name of Qatar, the Arab country that hosted this sporting event, which until before it received its nomination from FIFA, was quite unknown, at least in the West. It was known, perhaps, that his government headed by the Al-Thani dynasty had created in 1996 a powerful news network called Al Jazeera, whose reach in the Arab world and also internationally could be compared to what, for example, is CNN in the global communication environment. Possessor of immense oil and natural gas wealth, he has had the luxury of establishing relationships with a diversity of political actors, from the United States and nations of the European Union, to the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda militants, thus being able to play multiple cards simultaneously.

Well, since last October 7, when the Hamas terrorist organization that rules in Gaza carried out its savage attack against the Israeli population, Qatar has once again become a topic of constant mention in the world. The reasons are many. A very important one is that several of the leaders of the political wing of Hamas reside there, who direct from a long distance its armed wing that operates in the Gaza Strip. Among them, characters such as Ismail Haniye, Khaled Meshal and Mousa Abu Marzouk stand out, who live surrounded by luxury and waste, which of course constitute a strong contrast with the conditions that prevail in the Gaza Strip for its 2.3 million impoverished inhabitants.

The statements of some of those leaders who operate from abroad have attracted attention these days because they blatantly express the nature of their objectives, as well as their priorities. For example, the same Abu Marzouk mentioned above has just been interviewed by the Russian network RT, pointing out that the network of tunnels built in Gaza was to safeguard its militants against possible Israeli attacks, adding that the protection of its civilians is In any case, the responsibility of Israel and the UN. In other words, the survival of its citizens is, apparently, a matter that does not concern them.

Likewise, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) news channel broadcast a couple of days ago an interview with another Hamas official outside Gaza, named Razi Hamed, who argued that Israel should be extirpated from Muslim land. He literally said: “We must end Israel. We must teach him a lesson, the attack of October 7 is the first, there will be a second, a third and a fourth.” In fact, immediately after the carnage in southern Israel, the first official declaration of war by the leader of Hamas's armed wing, Mohamed Deif, was made in an Al Jazeera broadcast, revealing the very close relationship between Qatar and the Palestinian terrorist organization.

But, in addition, Qatar has been the financier of Hamas for years, transferring it carloads of money that even the Israeli governments led by Netanyahu let through under the belief that these resources appeased Hamas to keep it quiet. To these resources were added several other sources of income: transfers from Iran, donations collected via the Internet under the label of "contributions for charitable purposes", collection of taxes for everything that entered or left the Strip, and the management of various accounts. of cryptocurrencies.

It is estimated that one and a half trillion dollars came into the hands of Hamas in the last decade. Thanks to these juicy income, Hamas was able to build an immense arsenal of rockets and the network of tunnels that works like a bulky underground spider web where arsenals, barracks, operational centers, shelters and everything necessary to mount its offensives are located. To the civilian population of Gaza, which is currently suffering in an unspeakable way the consequences of the war, only the crumbs of all that flow of money destined for the enterprise of ending Israel and the Jewish infidels reached them.

In this context, Qatar, thanks to its multiple tentacles that connect with so many actors, is able to play a central role in the issue of mediation between the parties in order to achieve the release of the hostages that Hamas captured on September 7. October during their savage attack on southern Israel. There are 240 men, women, children and the elderly, of whom so far only five have been rescued, four of them apparently with the intermediation of Qatar.

This small but very rich country undoubtedly moves between extremes: it was able to host the great celebration of world football in 2022, despite the thousands of workers who died in the construction of the stadiums and other facilities, and now it is an actor necessary to mediate many of the serious issues of the ongoing war, despite having fed the serpent's egg for so long.