Report: Qatar and Turkey to give $1B to Hamas to make up for Iranian shortfall ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Report: Qatar and Turkey to give $1B to Hamas to make up for Iranian shortfall

Palestine Press Agency quotes Egypt's Youm7 about a power struggle within and without Hamas as to who should lead the terror group over the next several years.

Khaled Meshal, the political head of Hamas, has led the group since 1996, although he only visited Gaza once in 2012. Hamas' Gaza leaders like Qassam Brigades head Mohammed Deif and Mahmoud al-Zahar have been critical of Meshal for his position against Iran in the Syrian civil war, which cost Hamas hundreds of millions of dollars in support from Iran.

Qatar and Turkey want Meshal to remain Hamas' leader for two reasons. One is in order to counteract Iran's influence in Gaza. But the other is because Meshal is also an important player with the global Muslim Brotherhood and they want to maintain his position of prestige there. He is apparently strategizing with Egypt's MB leaders to come up with a way to gain ascendance again after the effective coup by Sisi.

In fact, Qatar already has once given Hamas hundreds of millions to discourage Gaza's Ismail Haniyeh from running against Meshal in internal Hamas elections. Haniyeh became second in command.

Now, according to this article, representatives from Qatar and Turkey have been meeting with Hamas committee members in Gaza to lobby for them to continue to support Meshal - and they are offering $1 billion to offset the loss of Iranian support.

The article makes it clear that part of these funds are going towards rocket manufacturing and terrorist tunnels.

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