Published October 31,2023
Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has conspicuously decided to back away from supporting Hamas in its war against Israel.
On Monday, Hezbollah operatives rejected Hamas demands for assistance and mocked Hamas leaders for living comfortably in Qatar while the people of Gaza suffer.
The subject of Hezbollah’s contempt was former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who urged Hezbollah to “make history” by invading across Israel’s northern border. Mashal complained that the few desultory missile strikes launched by Hezbollah are “not enough” to stop Israel from crushing Hamas with its ground invasion.
Hezbollah fired a few rocket volleys from Lebanon at northern Israel over the weekend. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) intercepted many of these rockets, then responded with targeted artillery strikes against Hezbollah assets.
The IDF dismissed the damage from Hezbollah’s rockets as minimal, while Hezbollah acted as though Israel’s response was anything but minimal. Whatever Israeli artillery blew up on Sunday, it was apparently not something Hezbollah can easily replace.
Hezbollah, like other Iranian proxy forces, has misspent a great deal of Lebanon’s treasury on building up an arsenal. It has the capability to shower Israel with large numbers of cheap, unguided rockets that would be difficult for Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome defense system to completely intercept, but so far Hezbollah has hesitated to take that escalatory step.
When Hamas mouthpieces like Mashal complained that Hezbollah was not doing enough, the Lebanese terrorist organization and political party essentially invited them to climb into the ring with the IDF instead of catcalling from their luxury box seats in Qatar.
Israel’s Ynet News on Monday quoted Hezbollah-aligned writers and politicians in Lebanon, dismissing Mashal as “a man staying in a five-star hotel” in Qatar whose input was “unwelcome.”
“Khalid Mashal has no positive influence on our Shiite environment, particularly after what happened in Syria,” growled journalist Faysal Abd al-Sattar, bringing up some hard feelings from the Syrian civil war, in which Hezbollah firmly supported dictator Bashar Assad while Hamas backed rebel jihadi groups. Hamas was angry with Assad for cracking down too hard on dissident groups and felt the “Arab Spring” might be a good time to trade him in for a more Islamist dictator.
“Khaled Mashal meddled in the Arab Spring, the destructive spring that aimed to weaken the Arab world. If Mashal has 30 billion dollars to offer, then perhaps we can consider going to war,” hooted Lebanese politician and Hezbollah ally Wiam Wahab.
Some of Mashal’s Lebanese critics invited him to cowboy up and head for the Lebanon-Israel border to prove he is not just a loudmouth ordering room service in a Qatari hotel suite. As Ynet observed, some of this reaction could be attributed to bad blood from the Syria conflict, but some of it seems to be Hezbollah’s way of saying that it is tired of Hamas pestering it to commit more fully to war in Gaza.
RELATED: REVEALED: Luxury instead of relief – Hamas terrorists’ secret £600m financial empire
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, shakes hands with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, right, between the Emir of Qatar.
Published October 30,2023
Hamas internally calls it the “secret portfolio”. The terrorist organisation maintains a huge network of companies, as documents exclusively seen by the German newspaper WELT show. The names of German banks also appear. Hamas bosses live far from Gaza in luxury hotels.
Even before the current war, half of the Palestinians in Gaza were dependent on food aid from the United Nations. Now UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, is warning that the territory, home to more than two million people, is on the verge of collapse. Aid organisations around the world are collecting donations for the suffering population.
Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has bulging bank accounts. Hundreds of millions of American dollars, however, are not spent by the heads of the terrorist organisation on their population, but on attacks against Israel – and their luxurious lifestyle abroad.
Hamas internally calls it the “secret portfolio”. The terrorist organisation maintains a huge network of companies, as documents exclusively seen by the German newspaper WELT show. The names of German banks also appear. Hamas bosses live far from Gaza in luxury hotels.
Even before the current war, half of the Palestinians in Gaza were dependent on food aid from the United Nations. Now UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, is warning that the territory, home to more than two million people, is on the verge of collapse. Aid organisations around the world are collecting donations for the suffering population.
Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has bulging bank accounts. Hundreds of millions of American dollars, however, are not spent by the heads of the terrorist organisation on their population, but on attacks against Israel – and their luxurious lifestyle abroad.
The so-called Shura Council is the superordinate political body of Hamas, which makes the strategic decisions of the terrorist organisation. Subordinate to the council are committees that manage Hamas’s various activities, including the “Office of Investment.” This watches over foreign commercial assets, the extent of which only a few senior officials know. Hamas bosses call it the “secret portfolio.”
Hamas top brass have built up a financial empire outside the Gaza Strip whose total value is about £600 million.
According to documents on Hamas assets obtained by WELT AM SONNTAG and information from a former high-ranking Israeli intelligence official investigating the financial flows of terrorist organisations, Hamas top brass have built up a financial empire outside the Gaza Strip whose total value is about £600 million.
RELATED: Gaza is scarred by poverty. But Hamas leaders live a life of luxury in Qatar
While Gazans face death amid the recent flare-up with Israel, some Hamas figures live a life of comfort away from the impoverished Strip. Ismail Haniyeh, widely considered the Palestinian group’s overall leader, has been residing in Qatar, often seen flaunting his riches
Ismail Haniyeh drives a car as the then Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani sits next to him after a visit at the Islamic University in Gaza City in October 2012. Reuters File Photo
Published October 19,2023
Palestinians in Gaza are in a grim situation amid Israel’s war with Hamas. The enclave’s only power station ran out of fuel last week, and there is also a shortage of water, food and other basic necessities. Hospitals are overwhelmed as injured and bodies keep rising up amid Israel’s relentless airstrikes on Gaza.
However, there might be some relief in sight after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday (18 October) that his country will lift a part of its blockade of Gaza at the request of United States president Joe Biden during his visit to the West Asian nation. According to the US, Egypt has agreed to open a border crossing into Gaza to let in some humanitarian aid.
The plight of Gaza’s impoverished civilians amid Israel’s war with Hamas has also put the spotlight on the contrasting lives led by the Palestinian movement’s leaders away from the densely populated enclave.
