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A May 21 document reveals the leaders of Hamas at that time– Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh–were aware that Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani “agreed in principle to supply the resistance discreetly, but he does not want anyone in the world to know.”
By David Swindle, The Algemeiner
The Israeli military has uncovered in Gaza hidden documents which illuminate the depth of collaboration in recent years between Islamist terrorist group Hamas and its longtime patrons, Iran and Qatar, according to Hebrew media.
Israel’s Channel 12 first reported on the documents, which reportedly show that in May 2021, then-Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh told Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian terrorist group’s leader at the time in Gaza, that Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani had “agreed on discreet financial support” and that “he agreed in principle to supply the resistance discreetly, but he does not want anyone in the world to know. Until now, $11 million has been raised from the emir for the leadership of the movement.”
Haniyeh requested that Sinwar send a letter to Al Thani “in which you will focus on the military campaign, your urgent needs — and dedicate the victory [in the war] to his highness.”
Sinwar reportedly obliged, writing that month following 11 days of battle with Israel. He told Al Thani that “the Egyptians were attempting to restrain the escalation, and we caused them to leave the picture with empty hands. In their place, the Qataris came, and we gave them an opportunity to dictate the fruits of diplomacy.”
In a 2019 communique to Qatar, Haniyeh had described Al Thani’s desert monarchy as “Hamas’s main artery,” leading Channel 12 to suggest such support was crucial for the success of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the largest single-day mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
The documents also showed, according to Channel 12, that Qatar and Hamas coordinated to oppose the 2020 Israeli-Palestinian peace plan proposed by then-US President Donald Trump, including with a June 2019 emergency meeting called by Al Thani. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal reportedly told the emir that “we need to cooperate in order to resist the ‘deal of the century’ and thwart it.”
Al Thani reportedly said in a 2020 meeting with Hamas that on the subject of normalization with Israel, “with respect to Palestine — Oman is on one side and we are on the other side.”
According to Channel 12, a secret internal Hamas brief said that if Qatar normalized relations with Israel it would result in “the elimination of the Palestinian national project.”
The document trove also reportedly contains diary notes from the late Haniyeh, who died in a July 31, 2024, targeted killing in Tehran by Israel.
Channel 12 reported that the files also showed close coordination with the Islamic regime in Iran, including that Qatar flew Hamas heads to Iran to attend the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, the powerful commander responsible for overseeing Iran’s proxies and terrorist operations abroad who Trump ordered killed in a Jan. 3, 2020, drone strike that hit Baghdad International Airport. Qatar also reportedly sought to promote the international influence of Iran and Turkey over Egypt.
The Israeli military has uncovered in Gaza hidden documents which illuminate the depth of collaboration in recent years between Islamist terrorist group Hamas and its longtime patrons, Iran and Qatar, according to Hebrew media.
Israel’s Channel 12 first reported on the documents, which reportedly show that in May 2021, then-Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh told Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian terrorist group’s leader at the time in Gaza, that Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani had “agreed on discreet financial support” and that “he agreed in principle to supply the resistance discreetly, but he does not want anyone in the world to know. Until now, $11 million has been raised from the emir for the leadership of the movement.”
Haniyeh requested that Sinwar send a letter to Al Thani “in which you will focus on the military campaign, your urgent needs — and dedicate the victory [in the war] to his highness.”
Sinwar reportedly obliged, writing that month following 11 days of battle with Israel. He told Al Thani that “the Egyptians were attempting to restrain the escalation, and we caused them to leave the picture with empty hands. In their place, the Qataris came, and we gave them an opportunity to dictate the fruits of diplomacy.”
In a 2019 communique to Qatar, Haniyeh had described Al Thani’s desert monarchy as “Hamas’s main artery,” leading Channel 12 to suggest such support was crucial for the success of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the largest single-day mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
The documents also showed, according to Channel 12, that Qatar and Hamas coordinated to oppose the 2020 Israeli-Palestinian peace plan proposed by then-US President Donald Trump, including with a June 2019 emergency meeting called by Al Thani. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal reportedly told the emir that “we need to cooperate in order to resist the ‘deal of the century’ and thwart it.”
Al Thani reportedly said in a 2020 meeting with Hamas that on the subject of normalization with Israel, “with respect to Palestine — Oman is on one side and we are on the other side.”
According to Channel 12, a secret internal Hamas brief said that if Qatar normalized relations with Israel it would result in “the elimination of the Palestinian national project.”
The document trove also reportedly contains diary notes from the late Haniyeh, who died in a July 31, 2024, targeted killing in Tehran by Israel.
Channel 12 reported that the files also showed close coordination with the Islamic regime in Iran, including that Qatar flew Hamas heads to Iran to attend the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, the powerful commander responsible for overseeing Iran’s proxies and terrorist operations abroad who Trump ordered killed in a Jan. 3, 2020, drone strike that hit Baghdad International Airport. Qatar also reportedly sought to promote the international influence of Iran and Turkey over Egypt.
In May 2022, Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces two years later, wrote to Haniyeh that “it is on you all to begin to prepare the campaign. We must begin immediately with our allies — Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. Qatari and Turkish diplomacy must be in a leading role. Our role is to make it hard for the occupation to breathe and ensure the severing of international actors’ diplomatic ties with them.”
Sinwar reportedly explained to Haniyeh in another communique that Iran did not “want calm or agreements” and that “they don’t want us to establish relations with their rivals or enemies, countries that are establishing normalization with America and the Zionist enemy. But they are ready for ties with Qatar and Turkey.”
An undated memo from the document collection also reportedly said that an Iranian diplomatic official told a Hamas delegation “we are happy about the Qatari-Turkish support for you.”
On May 14, Trump visited Qatar during a three-day Middle East tour — which excluded Israel — where he signed a $1.2 trillion deal with the Hamas-supporting authoritarian state.
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that costs for retrofitting the $400 million Qatari “palace in the sky” plane gifted to Trump could reach as high as $1.5 billion according to an unnamed US official. Rep. Joe Courtney, (D-Conn.) estimated a $1 billion price tag. The US Air Force secretary said it would “probably” cost less than $400 million to retrofit.
Trump had said at the time of receiving the plane that “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was — I thought it was a great gesture.”
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