Whichever team wins the World Cup on 18 December, the real winner will be Hamas, which is set for a bumper pay day from the Qatari hosts of the tournament, an Israeli expert has said.
It is not yet known precisely how much of a World Cup “dividend” the Islamic group is set to receive, but it is likely to be a sizeable chunk of the £9 billion that Nasser Al-Khater, Qatar World Cup chief executive officer, has said he expects to make in profits from the event, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Tel Aviv-based civil rights organisation Shurat HaDin Law Centre, told the JC.
Qatar makes no secret of its relationship with Hamas. Since the 2014 Gaza War, it has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the organisation, sometimes even delivered in cash by Qatari diplomats carrying suitcases through the Erez border crossing.
Qatar insists this practice has now stopped and that any financial help offered now is for civic purposes only.
Ms Darshan-Leitner disagrees. She represents more than 60 families of those who have lost loved ones to terrorism perpetrated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and says those attacks “could never have taken place without the billions of dollars Qatar has sent to the Gaza Strip”.
She now fears Hamas will see its resources bolstered further, as a direct result of the financial success of the Qatar World Cup. She told the JC: “It’s inevitable that any money that increases the financial fortunes of the Qataris will increase the fortunes of the Islamic terror groups in Gaza.
“If Qatar profits with billions of dollars from the World Cup, a percentage of that will be given to Hamas for rockets, guns, tunnels and training to kill Jews.
“Qatar and Iran are the main Hamas funders and anything that benefits them trickles down and benefits the terror groups, enhancing their ability to target Israelis.
“Every T-shirt and every scarf sold in Doha pays for another bullet and another knife aimed at innocent Jews.”
One of the World Cup venues in Qatar (Getty Images)
Ms Darshan-Leitner accused Qatar of playing “a double game”.
She said: “Qatar supports and affiliates with the worst actors in the Islamic world, while at the same time raising a facade of respectability and moderation.
"They blatantly used their oil wealth to corrupt other countries and bribe institutions to achieve their public relations goals.
“Qatar is the ATM of terror organisations, mainly Hamas, and the world turns a blind eye to the murders and injuries they have aided and abetted including those of many Israelis.
Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh (right)) with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (Photo: Getty Images)
"It’s outrageous that Fifa would conspire with a rogue regime like the one in Doha to allow them to host the World Cup and earn a measure of international respectability.”
She said Qatar currently gives Hamas $300 million a year, in addition to “many more millions behind the scenes”. She characterised the kingdom as “Palestinian terror’s financial sugar daddy”.
The tiny Gulf state has invested $220 billion — 15 times more than Russia spent in 2018 -— to ensure the success of the World Cup, amid worldwide concern at its appalling human rights record and the unknown number of migrant workers who have died while building the stadiums and infrastucture for the tournament.
