A newly released memo from the Israeli government shows that Tel Aviv pressed Qatar to send money to Gaza, knowing the funds would benefit Hamas. The document adds to the pile of evidence that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu propped up Hamas for years before the October 7, 2023, attack. 

Kann News journalist Suleiman Maswadeh reported obtaining a 2020 memo that pushed Qatar to continue sending financial support to Gaza, knowing some of the funds would reach Hamas. “Israel’s begging documents to Qatar, requesting to continue transferring money to the Gaza Strip, even though there were indications that part of it was leaking to Hamas,” Maswadeh wrote on X. “The Qataris, in return for the money, sent actual invoices to Israel. In short, everything is documented.”

Left-wing Democratic leader Yair Golan said the report proved Netanyahu was “an asset of Hamas.” “Tonight, it became clear that he groveled and begged the Qataris to continue transferring cash to Gaza, despite knowing that the money was going directly to Hamas’s military wing,” Golan argued on X.  

“With this Qatari money, Hamas strengthened, trained, built tunnels, and carried out the October 7 massacre.” He continued, “Netanyahu was and remains an asset of Hamas and a dangerous partner of its primary sponsor, Qatar.”

Maswadeh’s disclosure adds to the evidence that Netanyahu propped up Hamas’s control of Gaza for years. Netanyahu told Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019, “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas… This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank. It’s impossible to reach an agreement with them. Everyone knows this, but we control the height of the flames.”

Likud spokesman Jonatan Urich, one of Netanyahu’s media advisers, bragged that one of Netanyahu’s key successes was disconnecting Gaza from the West Bank. “[Netanyahu] basically smashed the vision of the Palestinian state in these two places; some of the achievement is related to the Qatari money reaching Hamas each month.”

Former Avigdor Lieberman previously said that the Prime Minister dispatched high officials, such as Mossad chief Yosi Cohen, to Doha “[begging] the Qataris to keep funneling money into Hamas.” 

Top Israeli officials and their apologists in the US have argued that the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza is justified because the Palestinians elected Hamas. However, Tel Aviv has not allowed elections in the Strip since 2006, and has helped to keep Hamas in power.