I often see Facebook friends "check in" to Doha airport, often en route from Australia to Europe and sometimes (indirectly) to Israel. I guess they don't realize that being a customer of Qatar Airways is helping to fund terror attacks on Israeli civilians and the billionaire lifestyles of Hamas leaders.
In May 2014, Qatar Airways’ chief executive officer, Akbar Al Baker said that the airline was now fully owned by the Qatar government. “We became fully government owned in July last year,” he said at a news conference, after the country’s sovereign fund bought a 50-percent stake from Qatar’s former prime minister and other shareholders.
Since Hamas assumed control in Gaza in 2007, Qatar has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the territory and backed Hamas diplomatically, sheltering its exiled leader Khaled Mashaal.
In 2007, Qatar was one of the only countries to back Hamas after the group booted the more moderate Palestinian Authority out of the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup. In 2012, its then-emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, became the first head of state to visit Gaza under Hamas rule, pledging to raise $400 million toward reconstruction.
In September 2014, Qatar, despite its attempts to improve its image, by welcoming foreign universities, backing al-Jazeera and planning to host the 2022 World Cup, was criticised in the US Congress for its championing of Hamas.
In November 2017, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said the IDF’s destruction of a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory was a crime against the Palestinian people that hampered their "legitimate rights" to attack Israeli civilians.
“The State of Qatar expressed its strong condemnation of the Israeli shelling of Gaza Strip in which a number of Palestinians were martyred and others were injured… a continuation of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and a desperate attempt to obstruct their efforts for claiming their legitimate rights.”Five Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists — including two senior commanders — and two terrorists from Hamas’s armed wing were killed as a result of the tunnel’s destruction. Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh confirmed that the attack tunnel was built by his group for the purpose of kidnapping Israeli soldiers.
Qatar has long been a supporter of Hamas and has paid for much of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the terror group fought a 50-day war with Israel in 2014.
Qatar reiterated its “full support for the Palestinian people’s self-determination and restoration of all legitimate rights, foremost of which is the establishment of an independent and sovereign state on the borders of June 4, 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.”
In response, in the same month (November 2017), in Washington: A US-Government bipartisan panel singled out Qatar by backing legislation that would slap sanctions on any countries or individuals providing financial and material support to the Islamic militant group Hamas. The proposed bill specifically criticised Qatar for having backed Hamas and hosting senior members of the militant group. The legislation cited a March 2014 Treasury Department report that said Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas.”
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke ties with Qatar earlier this year over allegations it funds terrorism. The US echoed the accusation.
Ismail Haniyeh (R) and Hamas associates on Haniyeh’s private plane on the way to Qatar at the onset of Operation Protective Edge.
A 27,000 square meter commercial development in Doha, including four towers, office and commercial space and a 10,000 square meter mall, is owned by the wife and children of another Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal. Read more
Last month (January 2018) The United States put Ismail Haniyeh, on its terror blacklist and slapped sanctions on him. The 55-year-old Haniyeh was named head of Hamas in May 2017.
“Haniyeh has close links with Hamas... and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians … He has reportedly been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Hamas has been responsible for an estimated 17 American lives killed in terrorist attacks.”A few days ago (Thursday 9 February 2018) the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, promised Hamas terror group leader Ismail Hanieyh financial aid. Al Thani affirmed that Qatar would continue to “support the Palestinian people...”
It was the first phone conversation between a world leader and Haniyeh after the US’s decision to add the Hamas leader to its global terror blacklist. Haniyeh thanked the Qatari emir…
No comments:
Post a Comment