Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar. (AP/ Hatem Moussa) (AP/ Hatem Moussa)
Mahmoud al-Zahar

Related:

“We had agreed on a larger sum but there were only nine of us, and this was all we could carry,” says former Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

By MEMRI via JNS

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said in a recent interview that soon after his first meeting with Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander wound up giving him $22 million to take back with him to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking with Iran’s Al-Alam TV on Dec. 27, al-Zahar—Hamas’s foreign minister at the time the incident took place—related that Soleimani would have given him more, but that $22 million was all the nine-person Hamas delegation could carry. “Each suitcase weighed 40 kilograms [88 pounds],” he said.

After he was appointed foreign minister in 2006, said al-Zahar, “I traveled to a number of countries, one of which was Iran. I met with the [Iranian] foreign minister and then some Iranian officials.”

He also met with Iran’s president at the time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That meeting, said al-Zahar, was “a positive one.”

“We made a number of requests, and [Ahmadinejad] referred me to Qassem Soleimani. In that meeting, we said that our main problems were the wages of our government employees—people who needed social aid and the aid that had to be given to the people—when a siege had been imposed on us after our success in the elections [against the Palestinian Authority],” he said.

“The decision was taken immediately. I was supposed to fly out the following day,” he continued. “I discovered $22 million waiting for me in suitcases at the airport. We had agreed on a larger sum, but there were only nine of us, and this was all we could carry.”

Bring Joy to Israeli Soldiers - Send Winter Care Packages!

We are honored to thank the young men and women of the IDF who risk their lives every day to defend the citizens of Israel.

Join us in sending winter care packages and personal notes of support to Israeli soldiers who are out in the cold all day.

Warm up a soldier's heart with essential winter wear including fleece jackets, hats, gloves and more. Keep an entire unit warm!

THE SOLDIERS REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR LOVE AND CONCERN!

Click Here to Send Your Gift and Personal Note to Israeli Soldiers