Clips like this are incredibly frustrating to me bc they make it out like the really bad part of this story is “Netanyahu funding Hamas.” That’s not the scandal. The scandal is WHY Qatar and Netanyahu had to fund Hamas: And that’s because for the last 19 years and counting, the state of Israel, regardless of who ran the government, has imposed a TOTAL air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip. They have prohibited the free movement of people and products. They have instituted complete control over trade, commerce and the production of goods and services. Israel was, and still is, occupying both Gaza and the West Bank. And as the occupying power they are obligated under international law to provide necessities. But because it’s Israel, of course they refuse to pay for that. So for decades the onus has fallen on Muslim countries and allies of Palestinians in the region. Before 2012 Hamas leadership was in Syria. At the start of the Syrian war, the US asked Qatar to host Hamas instead. Qatar, wanting to curry favor with the US, agreed. Those “payments to Hamas” have gone mostly towards paying Israel for the electricity they provide to Gaza ($10 million/month) and operation of the government facilities in Gaza like schools and hospitals. So the scandal here is how “the only Democracy in the Middle East” has spent decades holding millions captive in an open air prison, guarded by robotic machine guns and denied them basic human rights why shaking down other countries to pay for it all.
