1. In 2017, Avenue Strategies, a Qatari lobbying group in the U.S., approached former Brig.-Gen. Shimon Shapira, former Military Secretary to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (and, until December 2016, Israeli Foreign Ministry chief of staff under Netanyahu's previous tenure as prime minister and foreign minister), at a time when U.S. legislation to sanction Qatar for sponsoring terrorism was in the works. According to a February 19, 2025 report in The Marker as well as documents submitted by the group in the U.S., Shapira wrote that "Qatar has not delivered weapons to Hamas." As a result of his letter, the legislation effort did not continue. The Prime Minister's Office has not commented on this report. This is another addition to the information surfacing in recent weeks regarding Netanyahu advisors' involvement in lobbying operations for Qatar.
2. A MEMRI report focused on a similar case in the U.S.: Qatar hired a former CIA official to spy on anti-Hamas and anti-Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Tom Cotton, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, as well as former Rep. Ed Royce – see MEMRI Daily Brief No. 565, Qatari Ambassador To U.S. Was Allegedly Involved In Bribing A French Minister, Spying On U.S. Lawmakers, January 22, 2024.
3. See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 720, Qatar Seeks To Sweep Away Trump's Gaza Plan With So-Called Peace Plan, by Yigal Carmon, February 19, 2025.
4. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11844, Another Qatari Regime Scandal In France: Qatari Official Investigated By French Authorities; Earlier, In 2016, Qatari Ambassador Had Allegedly Bribed A French Minister, February 18, 2025.
5. See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1810, The National Conference For Palestine – A Qatari Initiative For Integrating The Hamas Terror Organization Into The PLO, by S. Schneidmann, L. Alon, and H. Varulkar, February 13, 2025.
6. On February 16, 2025, Rabbi Pini Dunner of the Beverly Hills Synagogue in California led Jewish activists in a protest outside the Bel Air home of former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (HBJ), a member of the Qatari royal family, over his close ties to Hamas. For a video of the protests, see Rabbi Dunner's X post.[1]
*Yigal Carmon is President and Founder of MEMRI.
[1] Press release for the event: BEL AIR, CA – FEBRUARY 18, 2025 – This past Sunday, several dozen residents and community leaders organized a protest outside the private Bel Air home of Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (HBJ), the former prime minister of Qatar, to highlight the Qatari royal’s close ties to Hamas, the terrorist group behind the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. The Chalon Road property sits on an eight-acre hilltop right above the ultra-exclusive Bel Air Country Club and is listed on Zillow as a single-family home spanning over 50,000 square feet, boasting 24 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. According to Los Angeles real estate news site, The Real Deal, the mega mansion was purchased in 2010 for $35 million. While Qatar has positioned itself as a key figure on the international stage throughout the ceasefire and hostage negotiations, it has also proven to be deeply complicit in terrorism and responsible for the promotion of Islamic fundamentalism, as well as violent unrest both in the Middle East and across the West, according to the activists leading the protest. Foreign donations from Qatar have played a crucial role in fomenting growing levels of antisemitic and anti-American propaganda at U.S. universities, which exploded on college campuses in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. “Qatar pretends to be the mediators, the ‘honest brokers,’ they call themselves, of the Middle East,” said Rabbi Pini Dunner, the senior rabbi at Beverly Hills Synagogue, at the protest. “But you know what they are? They are funders and supporters of terrorism. All they are interested in is to create havoc and chaos in the world and then pretend to resolve it.” Organizers can be seen walking with signs that read, “A man who funds terrorism lives here,” and “HBJ: Go back to Qatar.” The protest, which was captured both on Instagram and X, where one video already has thousands of views, was just the latest example of recent public criticism against HBJ and other Qatari royals over their controversial business dealings and large U.S. investment portfolio.
