Netanyahu's close political advisors are being investigated for ties with the Qatari government (Qatar-gate), which is a main funder of the terrorist organization Hamas responsible for October 7 attacks.
Recently, an Israeli businessman with ties in Qatar said he paid Eli Feldstein, Netanyahu's spokesperson who was involved in multiple controversies, money from a lobbyist for the Qatari government.
Did Netanyahu knowingly receive money from the Qatari government, direcrly or indirectly?
If this becomes known by EOY 2029, as reported on reputable media sources (either Israeli or International), resolves YES.
1,000I think Iran is the main funder of Hamas. Qatar funds Gaza with aid and paying the salary of workers directly which Hamas' political wing can benefit from partially since they are also government employees. On the other hand Iran funds them militarily which is what most people think of when they read about Hamas.
"donations from Qatar, provided with the knowledge and consent of Israel and the United States. These donations have been used to pay employee salaries and provide general aid to Palestinians—activities that Hamas administers and benefits from directly or indirectly"
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/countering-hamas-s-financial-network
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/hamas-iran-relationship
@Samaritan Israel's strategy in Gaza before October 7, 2023 was mostly
Hamas is deterred, and unwilling to engage militarily with Israel.
As long as Qatari money is flowing, and Gazans receive work permits in Israel, Hamas has no incentive to do something like this.
The idea was indeed to strengthen Hamas' political wing while keeping its military wing in check, but it didn't work.
This is now called "The conception" in the Israeli public. (The word Conceptzia is used, though "The presumption" is a better translation), and many Israelis are calling for all politicians and military commanders who were responsible for "The conception" to step down. Most of which already did, except for Netanyahu and Ronen Bar.
Now that ties between Netanyahu's advisors and the Qatari government are being unraveled, the fear is that this strategy was used not for legitimate security reasons but rather because Netanyahu or his surroundings personally benefitted from it.
@BaryLevy Good NYT article on this, with some quotes from Israeli politicians and figures in Israeli Intelligence putting all of this in context
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-qatar-money-prop-up-hamas.html
@BaryLevy It would have made much more sense to give that to the PA and help them in over-throwing Hamas. Maybe use it to force an election. I think it is only ~7% of Palestinians in Gaza (recently but before october 7th 2023) had voted for Hamas decades ago. They haven't held elections because they knew they would lose.
Also going back to the Iran part, there doesn't seem to be enough information but the figure i've read is ~$400 million in military aid. Qatar donated more on paper but majority wasn't military aid.
@Samaritan I think majority of Israelis now agree that Hamas should have been over-thrown a long time ago. The question is who will be strong enough to replace it. PA is a relatively weak government, it lost control over the Gaza Strip to Hamas in the past, it is already spread thin, and there are even worries it will not be able to handle Hamas in the West Bank, even with direct financial support from Israel, EU and depending on the administration, US. I don't think the Qatari money would have made a big difference.
Israelis on the political left are split on whether PA should be given control over Gaza, with some supporting the idea and some raising the concerns I just listed. Right wing generally believe it should be annexed by Israel, or governed by US (Trump plan).
I personally considered myself leftist before October 7 (now it's more complicated) and used to support the idea of PA governing Gaza. But if IDF can't get rid of Hamas then I definitely don't think PA can.
As for the Qatari money, at least some of it was cash in USD which could be easily confiscated and reporpused for military operations. I don't know the magnitude of this phenomenon but I believe it was non-negligible.
@BaryLevy why no mention of the arab plan Egypt is leading? let them spend their money and military to deal with Hamas.