“The Strategic Genius Behind Allowing Qatari Suitcases of Cash into Gaza”

by

Via Lex:

Political analysts were likely no less surprised. I’m certainly one of them, having looked on in amazement ever since the reemergence of Hamas violence in early 2018 after three and a half years of quiet. Why did the Israeli government, with Benjamin Netanyahu firmly at its helm, tolerate renewed Hamas missile strikes, then missiles and incendiary balloons, then missiles and incendiary balloons and rioting along the fence dividing Hamas- controlled Gaza and Israel?
 
This is to say nothing of the high-profile visits of the Qatari special envoy, who brought suitcases full of millions of dollar bills to be placed in Hamas coffers—either directly or indirectly with Israel’s permission.
 
[. . .]
 
The mystery was solved on the fourth night of the offensive, when the Israeli Air Force made aviation history by amassing, over the small space of Gaza, 160 fighter jets and other air vehicles to pound and destroy—over a mere 40 minutes—the “Hamas Metro”: a vast array of interlocking tunnels Hamas had dug to protect its command posts, ease the movement of its terrorists, and enable the transport of its missiles and other ordnance.
 
What Netanyahu and the IDF did unto Hezbollah on a much smaller scale two years ago they repeated successfully on a far larger scale against Hamas. Israel, having discovered and then meticulously monitored Hezbollah tunneling activities across the northern border, waited for the expensive tunnels to be dug and then destroyed them just as they were about to be completed. It was Hamas’s turn to be similarly duped.

Read the whole thing.

13 thoughts on ““The Strategic Genius Behind Allowing Qatari Suitcases of Cash into Gaza””

  2. I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but Hamas is reasonably happy with the 11 day war, and claims it suffered far less damage than the Israelis claim. They were able to fire rockets, until they stopped doing it.

  3. Martin van Creveld (https://www.martin-van-creveld.com/) points out the dog that did not bark in the current round of Palestinian-inspired unpleasantness — Hezbollah in Lebanon decided to sit this one out, and did not lift a finger (or fire a rocket) to help Hamas.

    Since there is such mutual antipathy among Arabs, it is tough to be sure why Hezbollah just watched from the sidelines. But van Creveld’s observation certainly is worth thinking about.

  4. Qatar is trying to corner the market on Salafism, not only Hamas, but the Syrian AQ branches like Nusra Front, and jaysh al umma, the Army of the faithful, they also provide sanctuary, the Taliban and Boko Haram, they fielded militias in Libya, like the Shield militia, that provided support for Jaysh Al Sunna, and they have given Brookings 15 million reasons to look the other way, and Brookings funds Lawfare among other projects, they ran a hacking syndicate against 1,000 persons under the cover of a moroccan diplomat and khashoggi was their agent,

  5. I think what bothered the Israelis more than anything, was not the rockets. It was the surprisingly large response by Palestinians, Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, and Israeli citizens who turned out in very large numbers both to protest together, and fight with each other in many places.

    This is new.

  7. I know I shouldn’t, but, oh well.

    Israel knows the address and the the phone numbers of every Hamas and Hezbollah operative that matters, they know the same about their mistresses as well. How likely are they not to know all this about the organizers in their own country?

    I’m sure they have their heads down for now, but they’ll have to surface sooner or later and considering how stupid most have proven themselves, I’m betting sooner. The Israelis might even leave a few loose so that they become suspect of being Israeli agents.

  8. It looks like both Trump and Netanyhu are going to jail. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

  9. Qatar supplies natural gas through syria to turkey, some of it probably ends up in china.the uae egypt and the kingdom are allied against turkey and qatae

  10. Qatar does supply the UAE with burnable natural gas to support its electricity production. Electricity drives the desalinization plants, the source of 90% of the country’s potable water. (The UAE’s gas contains too much hydrogen sulfide and is converted into elemental sulfur for export.)

    That is why the UAE has built 4 large nuclear reactors from South Korea and has plans for 4 more. These first 4 will supply 25% of the UAE’s electrical demand and substantially reduce the UAE’s dependence on imported Qatari gas.

    The UAE is also building a rail line from the Indian Ocean serving its 2 main bulk ports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and its main oil refinery in the western region. After the current expansion projects, that oil refinery will be the largest in the world.

    The rail line will connect to a main line through Saudi Arabia extending all the way to a terminal near Tel Aviv. A branch connection in Saudi reaches the Red Sea. Main cargo is expected to be refined petroleum products so high value exports can bypass the Strait of Hormuz and reach both the Mediterranean and the Indian Oceans unmolested. Currently, there are no plans to connect Qatar.

  11. Hamas always claims to be happy, no matter what happens.

    Their claim of victory is they survived a fight they started.

    Israel does not have a strategy for dealing with Hamas. They are reacting at a tactical level, of inflict enough pain to get Hamas to stop. Hamas then stops, re-arms, and prepares for the next fight.

    Where Israel did poorly this time was on the propaganda / persuasion front.

    Hamas got what it wanted, which was more prestige in the internal politics of influence competing with the Abbas led PLO government. As well as doing well on the international PR Front.

    Hezbollah saw no advantage, and is not doing well from a soft power view in Lebanon. This is due to the huge amount of Sunni Refugees from Syria upsetting the balance of power, fighting in Syria, devaluation of the Lebanese Currency (economic issues), and significant reduction in money from Iran.

  12. As for dogs not barking . . . I’m old enough to remember when The Arab Street was a thing, always worth significant hand-wringing when the Palis took another opportunity to lose another opportunity.

    I don’t see much of that any more. I suppose the world has matured to the point that sensible people everywhere write off the Palis and their wanker friends for the eternal losers they are.

    Cousin Eddie

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