Archiv: 16-12-2023 New York Times publication: Netanyahu government found out about Hamas funding in 2018 encouraged Qatari monarch channel money to Gaza


24.11.2025 - 19:22 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel’s army chief dismisses officers for ‘failure to prevent’ 7 October attack

(November 23, 2025)

Israeli chief of staff Eyal Zamir on Sunday dismissed senior officers in the military over „failure to prevent“ the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas, local media reported.

Zamir ended the service of several retired generals, including the former Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, former Southern Command chief Yaron Finkelman, and former Operations Directorate chief Oded Basyuk, according to the public broadcaster KAN.

The report said that Zamir also dismissed Gaza Division reserve commander Avi Rosenfeld, while the division’s intelligence officer was expelled from the army altogether.

24.11.2025 - 18:50 [ Times of Israel ]

Protesters in Tel Aviv, including opposition leaders, demand Oct. 7 state inquiry

(November 22, 2025)

The protest was organized for the second straight week by the October Council, which is made up of families who lost loved ones in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and are demanding a state probe.

In attendance was former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is considered the most credible challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also at the protest were Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and MKs Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan, all of whom lead centrist or left-wing parties opposed to Netanyahu.

24.11.2025 - 18:47 [ Jfeed.com ]

To uncover the truth: Bereaved families establish the ‚October Council‘

(November 5, 2025)

„This issue is not political.“ I am a Zionist. We are a people who study and grapple with the truth. To this day, Jews sit in pairs every day and seek answers. Even to the most difficult questions. There is no disagreement here; we all want to learn from our experience of October 7th. I join the 85% of Israeli citizens who are calling for the establishment of an immediate and proper state commission of inquiry to investigate everything and everyone.

20.11.2025 - 16:40 [ Times of Israel ]

High Court orders government to explain why it’s not launching Oct. 7 state inquiry

The court demanded to know why the government is not exercising its authority to establish such a commission, which could “examine in an independent, professional, and impartial manner” the events surrounding the October 7 attacks.

Preliminary orders switch the burden of proof from the petitioner, in this case several liberal watchdog groups, to the respondent — the government — and indicate that the court is taking the petitions very seriously.

The government has until January 4 to respond.

13.08.2025 - 16:01 [ Middle East Eye ]

Netanyahu says backs ‚Greater Israel‘, which includes parts of Jordan and Egypt

Similar views have been echoed by ministers within Netanyahu‘s government.

Last year, in a documentary, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was filmed advocating for the expansion of Israeli borders to include Damascus.

He suggested that Israel would gradually grow to encompass not only all Palestinian territories but also parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

13.08.2025 - 15:37 [ Times of Israel ]

Netanyahu says he’s on a ‘historic and spiritual mission,’ also feels a connection to vision of Greater Israel

(August 12, 2025)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells i24 he feels he is on a “historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very” attached to the vision of a Greater Israel, which includes areas slated for a future Palestinian state and possibly also areas that are part of present-day Jordan and Egypt.

The interviewer Sharon Gal, who was briefly a right-wing member of Knesset, gifts to Netanyahu what he says is an amulet of “a map of the Promised Land.”

06.04.2025 - 18:27 [ Jerusalem Post ]

‚In secret, through lies‘: Political contender Bennett slams PMO over Qatargate affair

„In secret, through lies, through a scheme – the closest advisors to the Prime Minister worked for the engine of Hamas. It‘s madness,“ Bennett, who registered a new political party last week, wrote.

„There are three things you need to understand and remember when talking about the Qatar affair, no matter how many spins they try to feed you,“ he added.

20.03.2025 - 22:59 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Ousting Shin Bet chief: Netanyahu‘s maneuver to avoid scrutiny over October 7 – analysis

The real issues are: Who is to blame for failing to prevent Hamas’s October 7 invasion, will the failures be fixed, and will the Shin Bet be turned into a loyalty agency that looks the other way when Jewish extremists perpetrate violence against West Bank Palestinians, as many observers say happened to the police under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which is to say under Netanyahu.

20.03.2025 - 12:18 [ Axios ]

Netanyahu moves to fire intel chief who is investigating his aides

(March 16, 2025)

– The investigation, dubbed „Qatar-Gate“ in the Israeli press, focused on alleged payments Netanyahu‘s advisers facilitated and received from Qatar in return for working on improving the image of the country in Israel.
– Qatar is one of the key mediators in the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal. But Netanyahu‘s decision in 2018 to ask Qatar to transfer money to Hamas in Gaza for humanitarian purposes became one of the main points of criticism against him after the Oct. 7 attack.
– The Shin Bet determined a portion of that money went to Hamas‘ military build-up.

11.01.2025 - 12:28 [ Times of Israel ]

No more ‘cannon fodder’: Parents of troops, slain hostages demand Gaza deal

“The IDF has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there,” the letter alleged, pushing back against Netanyahu’s stance that continued military action would free the 98 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, almost all of them kidnapped on October 7.

They charged the fighting in Gaza was “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.”

11.01.2025 - 12:26 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

850 Parents of Soldiers Accuse Netanyahu: Our Children are Cannon Fodder

n a letter addressed to the premier, the relatives accuse him of leading “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.” “Our sons and daughters set out on a necessary war brought upon us by your actions. Our children are cannon fodder”, they claim. “They lost many friends and are continuing to die and get injured, mentally and physically.

Now, after more than a year of war, they assert the only way for the returning of the hostages is as part of a deal with Hamas, alleging that the war is being extended aimlessly and that the Israeli army “has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there.” “We accuse you of abandoning the hostages and the soldiers,” the parents write, threatening to launch an “all-out struggle,” beginning in dozens of cities next Saturday.

21.12.2024 - 01:56 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(December 16, 2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

08.10.2024 - 20:20 [ Middle East Eye ]

UK peer: No hope of peace if Netanyahu is PM of Israel

Lord Michael Levy, the former Middle East adviser to Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday: “The whole Middle East is potentially in a blow-up situation. And if that happens … how much further can that go for all of us in the world today, there must be a way forward.

“I don’t think there’s any hope for peace with [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu in power,” he added. “I would like to think that Netanyahu could be part of a positive way forward. Regrettably, I just don’t think that is possible at all.”

07.10.2024 - 22:31 [ SABA.ye ]

Netanyahu changes name of Gaza genocide war from „Iron Swords“ to „Resurrection War“

According to the Zionist news website „Ynet“: „Netanyahu said in a special session of the government on the first anniversary of the October 7 attack that he wants to rename the „Iron Swords“ war to the „Resurrection War“.

07.10.2024 - 22:30 [ Ahram.org.eg ]

Hamas armed wing vows ‚long war of attrition‘ against Israel

„We choose to keep up the fight in a long war of attrition, one that is painful and costly for the enemy,“ said Abu Obeida, spokesman of the militant group‘s armed wing.

He also warned that scores of people taken captive into Gaza on October 7 last year were enduring a „very difficult“ situation.

His statement, broadcast on Al Jazeera, came on the one-year anniversary of the Aqsa Flood operation.

07.10.2024 - 19:04 [ Axios ]

One year after Oct. 7 attacks, Netanyahu is on a winning streak

He now has the political capital for negotiations that could set the country‘s next budget and allow him to continue to call the shots for at least another year in the multi-front regional war Israel is fighting.

„He feels he is winning,“ one of Netanyahu‘s aides told Axios.

The six-time prime minister will outlast President Biden, who has largely failed in his attempts to contain the conflict in the Middle East and rein in Netanyahu.

07.10.2024 - 18:56 [ Middle East Eye ]

Netanyahu seeks continuous war as Israeli centre left favours state power

Even more surprising is the Israeli public’s near-total embrace over the last three weeks of Netanyahu’s declared desire to prosecute a war for “total victory”. Prior to this, hundreds of thousands of people were out on the streets, demanding a “deal now” and accusing the prime minister of prolonging the war for his own ends.

Now, it seems the majority of Israel’s Jewish public, from Ben Gvir supporters to fans of the centre-left Zionist Yair Golan, wants a never-ending war. Even the first casualties from the ground invasion of Lebanon are not shifting this support – at least so far.

04.09.2024 - 10:45 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(December 16, 2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

07.03.2024 - 18:42 [ NewArab.com ]

Is Netanyahu prolonging the Gaza war to cling to power?

“In short, the longer he’s embroiled in war, the longer he can put off some kind of domestic political shift,” Zonszein said.

Netanyahu is playing up the challenges of holding elections during wartime and has made dramatic assertions like: “Hamas and Hezbollah want Israel to go to early elections, it would be a victory for them”.

However, the majority of Israelis still believe that Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making is primarily motivated by political interests, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Israeli Channel 13.

14.02.2024 - 12:49 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(16.12.2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

27.01.2024 - 23:00 [ JustSecurity.org ]

It’s Time to Close the Door on Biden’s Saudi Defense Deal

The day after Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken went on television to reiterate the Biden team’s claim that a grand bargain with the Saudi government “would really change the prospects for the entire region far into the future.”

In reality, a U.S.-Saudi mutual defense pact was a terrible idea before the Gaza war began, and it would be disastrous now.

10.01.2024 - 09:57 [ European Leadership Network ]

After Hamas: Rationales and dilemmas for US-Saudi nuclear agreement persist

(19 October 2023)

The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have for over a decade negotiated without success the terms of an agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation. These negotiations have intensified recently in the context of US efforts to broker a normalisation agreement between the KSA and Israel, which have included discussions about how the US could solidify its own support for Saudi Arabia. On the 7th of October 2023, Hamas terrorists appeared to drive a stake through the heart of the US effort to broker Israel-KSA normalisation. This has sent shockwaves through the region, and the full implications remain uncertain. However, it seems likely that in the longer run, rationales for normalisation and for US nuclear engagement with Riyadh will remain, reflecting the fact that the Hamas attacks underscored that a future nuclear-armed Iran would be a yet more formidable adversary for both Israel and the KSA.

05.01.2024 - 16:22 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(16.12.2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

05.01.2024 - 16:20 [ Middle East Eye ]

US State Dept offering $10 million for information on Hamas financial networks

According to the statement, „rewards may be provided for information leading to the identification and disruption of any source of revenue for Hamas or its key financial facilitation mechanisms; major Hamas donors or financial facilitators; financial institutions or exchange houses facilitating Hamas transactions.”

31.12.2023 - 17:58 [ El Pais ]

Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, West Bank… Israel says the Gaza war is now being fought on seven fronts

On Tuesday, Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told the Israeli Parliament’s Defense Committee that the country is fighting on seven fronts and has responded to attacks in six of them thus far. In addition to the Gaza Strip, where nearly 21,000 people have already died, and the West Bank — which Gallant referred to as “Judea and Samaria” and where incursions occur almost daily — the minister said that hostilities have spread to Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. “I’m saying it here explicitly,” Gallant warned during his speech. “Anyone who acts against us as a potential target will not be immune.”

28.12.2023 - 15:38 [ Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي / Twitter ]

Netanyahu‘s office responded to the hospitalized soldiers rejecting his visit with a formal statement in which they wrote: „An absolute majority of the fighters are very excited to meet the prime minister.“ (I am not joking.)

27.12.2023 - 10:00 [ CNN ]

Qatar sent millions to Gaza for years – with Israel’s backing. Here’s what we know about the controversial deal

(December 12, 2023)

In a series of interviews with key Israeli players conducted in collaboration with Israeli investigative journalism organization Shomrim, CNN was told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued the cash flow to Hamas, despite concerns raised from within his own government.

Qatar has vowed not to stop those payments.

24.12.2023 - 09:20 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Sie wissen von der Bundeswehr-Beteiligung an der Kriegsflotte im Persischen Golf, oder?

(3. August 2021)

24. Juni 2019: Der damalige U.S.-Außenminister Mike Pompeo fordert eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den Iran. passenderweise vorgetragen bei einem Blitzbesuch Pompeos in Saudi-Arabien.

4. August 2019: Ich lege mich fest und prognostiziere, dass „Bundeswehr-Marine .. noch vor Weihnachten unter Oberbefehl einer ausländischen Macht in den Persischen Golf entsandt“ wird.

(…)

20. Januar 2020: Monate vor der Ausrufung des bis heute andauernden Ausnahmezustands und bereits im Windschatten von SARS II („Coronavirus“), beschließen die Staatsführungen von Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Italien, der Niederlande, Belgien, Dänemark und Portugal in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die „European-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz“ (E.M.A.S.O.H.), von der Sie und 80 Millionen Andere bis heute nie gehört haben.

23.12.2023 - 22:36 [ Newsweek ]

It‘s Becoming Clear. Israel Could Cost Joe Biden Re-Election

Now, a new poll by the New York Times/ Siena College has found that nearly 75 percent of a sample of young voters aged between 18 and 29 disapprove of how the Democrat is handling the conflict. The same proportion believe Israel isn‘t doing enough to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and 44 percent said Israel should end its military campaign even if Hamas is not defeated, to 39 percent who said it should continue.

It also found that 27 percent of young people sympathize with Israel while 47 percent sympathize with Palestinians.

22.12.2023 - 22:43 [ Mother Jones ]

How Joe Biden Became America’s Top Israel Hawk

Both before and after October 7, the empathy Biden is known for has rarely extended to Palestinians. Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, said such statements are missing “to the degree that I don’t really think he sees the Palestinians at all.” In contrast, Khalidi added, Biden sees Israelis “as they are very carefully presented by their government and their massive information apparatus.”

A former Biden administration official shared a similar perspective with me. “The President does not seem to acknowledge the humanity of all parties affected by this conflict,” this person said. “He has described Is

16.12.2023 - 16:45 [ Gerrit Kurtz, Researcher @swpberlin / Twitter ]

The #RedSea may see a naval operation after more and more ships are attacked by Iran-backed Houthi forces, including one belonging to a German company. German government already looking into US request for a potential mission.

16.12.2023 - 16:07 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Einsatz der deutschen Marine gefordert

Am Freitag war der Containerfrachter „Al Jasrah“ in der Meerenge zwischen dem Jemen und Dschibuti beschossen und beschädigt worden. Die Besatzungsmitglieder blieben laut Hapag Lloyd unverletzt. Die Bundesregierung verurteilte den Angriff und prüft eine Bitte aus den USA um eine Beteiligung der deutschen Marine an einem Einsatz

16.12.2023 - 16:00 [ Times of Israel ]

NYT: Israel had blueprint of Hamas’s financial infrastructure in 2018, but didn’t shut it down

However, the report says that even though the documents were shared in Jerusalem and Washington, nothing was done to disrupt the operations.

“Everyone is talking about failures of intelligence on Oct. 7, but no one is talking about the failure to stop the money,” Udi Levy, a former chief of Mossad’s economic warfare division, tells the paper “It’s the money — the money — that allowed this.”

The report says that the funds totaled some $500 million.

Levy says he briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 about Hamas’s finances.