Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak explained in an interview how current PM Benjamin Netanyahu has intentionally helped Hamas.
“He deliberately and systematically, even told Israel, on record, whoever wants to avoid the ‘threat’ of a two-state solution has to support my policy of paying protection money to Hamas," Barak said.
The idea was to stop Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and others in similar roles from making any progress in setting up a formal Palestinian state; in other words, they never really wanted a two-state solution and peace with their neighbors. They were reportedly so committed to stopping a potential Palestinian state that they went out of their way to help money flow into Gaza using various means, including granting work permits to Gazan laborers that allowed them to earn higher salaries in Israel.
Hamas has been regarded as an asset, while the Palestinian Authority was dealt with as a thorn in their side. In a meeting of his Likud party in early 2019, Netanyahu reportedly said that anyone who was against the idea of a Palestinian state should be on board with transferring funds to Gaza because keeping the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would ensure a state never happens. He did not say this publicly, but some of those present have quoted him as making these comments, and the policies he implemented align with that notion.
Israel helped ensure the flow of money from Qatar into Gaza for Hamas
The former head of Israel’s secret service, Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon said: “What we did with the permission of our prime minister, is to let Qatar transfer a huge amount of money in cash – probably more than $1.4 billion. By doing it, we increased the power of Hamas. We did everything in order to make sure that Hamas will go on controlling Gaza, and Palestinian Authority will control the West Bank, so they will fight each other.”
The New York Times reported that the Qatari government was sending millions of dollars into the Strip each month to help prop up the Hamas government, and it was something that was not only tolerated but also encouraged by Netanyahu and his government in hopes that Hamas would focus on governing rather than fighting. Although these payments are something that you would expect them to want to hide, they were considered an open secret in Israel and even discussed by the media there over the years.
This is something that is well-known outside of the Jewish state as well. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, even drew attention to it earlier this year in a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, where he was quoted as saying: “Hamas was financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority.”
Indeed, these policies have helped Hamas grow stronger and more formidable – and this worked directly against Israel when they crossed the border on October 7 and killed and kidnapped Israelis. Now, Netanyahu is insisting that he wants to destroy Hamas, conveniently omitting the fact that they ever got as far as they did thanks to his support. Thousands of Israelis – and hundreds of thousands of Gazans – have paid the price for this with their lives.
Former IDF commander Yehuda Shaul told Australia’s ABC News: “He fed the beast and it exploded in our face.”
Sources for this article include:
X.com
TimesOfIsrael.com
Politico.eu
NYTimes.com
ABC.net.au
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