Israel drove suitcases stuffed with cash into Gaza to keep Hamas in power: NYT
www.businessinsider.com
Israeli security officials would escort Qatari representatives into Gaza to deliver the cash to Hamas, the New York Times reported.

Israeli officials are facing backlash after years of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu quietly allowing Hamas to remain in power.

But reporting in the New York Times has revealed that Netanyahu’s government was more hands-on about helping Hamas: they helped a Qatari diplomat bring suitcases of cash into Gaza, indirectly boosting the militant organization, according to the report.

The calculus — the Times reported on Sunday, citing Israeli officials, Netanyahu’s critics, and the man’s own reported statements — was to keep Hamas strong enough to counteract the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, allowing Netanyahu to avoid a two-state peace solution and keep both sides weak.

Israeli security officials got it wrong; they didn’t think Hamas was capable, or even interested, in launching a large attack against the Jewish state.

  • kescusay@lemmy.worldEnglish
    632·
    11 months ago

    It makes a sick kind of sense. If you’re one of the conservatives in power in Israel, and you oppose a two-state solution that would give Palestinians autonomy, keep two weaker factions fighting each other rather than stabilizing a new country.

    It doesn’t excuse the inhuman barbarism committed by Hamas against civilians, but it does mean Netanyahu should be immediately removed from power and arrested.

    The Palestinian Authority is the only organization there with any actual legitimacy, and had Israel publicly, openly supported it, Hamas could never have gotten a foothold, while the Palestinian Authority would have had reason to normalize relations with Israel.

    • TserriednichThe4th@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      11 months ago

      Do you know the backlash israel would get if it could install governments in gaza?

      Lmao yall want israel to govern gaza and also not. No matter what israel does. It is gonna be the jews fault right?

      • kescusay@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Ummm, are you sure you responded to the right comment? I didn’t suggest Israel install a government in Gaza. I described something Netanyahu and his fellow conservatives did to keep Palestine from stabilizing, and I said Israel could have avoided the current state of affairs by not doing that.

        • TserriednichThe4th@lemmy.worldEnglish
          14·
          11 months ago

          Conservative israelis def destablized palestinian government. But they cant prop hamas or pla. Palestinians have to do that. The conservative Israeli government just destablized hamas

          • kescusay@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            11 months ago

            The article is literally about Israel stabilizing Hamas to keep it and the Palestinian Authority struggling for control and keeping Palestine destabilized overall.

            • TserriednichThe4th@lemmy.worldEnglish
              13·
              11 months ago

              Destablized hamas from the perspective of more violence is equivalent to stabilizing hamas against a state two solution. Apologies i was unclear.

              Palestinians voted in hamas, not pla

              • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
                11·
                10 months ago

                Palestinians voted in Hamas in 2006, almost 20 years ago. Many of the Palestinians who voted in Hamas are dead of natural causes, and many who are of voting age today did not vote in Hamas. And no 18-year term is valid in any democracy.