Ministers to discuss law barring ‘terror-supporting’ Qatar from mediating with Hamas
Bill, proposed by MKs from Likud and far-right parties, says Doha is ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’; 2nd bill would let defense minister sanction workers in ‘terror-supporting’ groups
The government on Sunday will deliberate proposed legislation that would ban Qatar from mediating between Israel and the Hamas terror group, as well as a bill to sanction workers in “terror-supporting organizations,” according to an itinerary of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation published Thursday.
Qatar, until recently a mediator in talks to end the war in Gaza and release Israeli hostages held by terrorists, has been accused by Israel of failing to apply pressure on Hamas to reach a hostage-ceasefire agreement.
Much of the terror group’s leadership was based in Doha, but departed to Turkey in recent weeks, though Qatar has framed that move as reversible.
The “combating terror-supporting states” bill, if passed, will forbid the government from engaging with any country or other body through the mediation of a “terror-supporting” state.
The prime minister would be empowered to define states as such, if they provide “funding, training, material or other support to terrorist activities” in Israel or against Israelis and Jews worldwide.
A new statutory body would also be established in the National Security Council to oversee the fight against such states and the implementation of the law.
The bill was proposed by Likud MKs Moshe Saada and Dan Illouz, Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer and Religious Zionism MK Michal Woldiger.
The preamble to the draft legislation describes Qatar as the world’s largest sponsor of terror groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State and the Taliban.
It adds that “for the past twenty years, Qatar has acted as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.'”
A confidential April report by US and Israeli intelligence professionals, working on behalf of the families of those victimized in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, alleged that Qatar, despite its posture as a neutral arbiter, has intentionally supported terrorism for more than a decade, and that “Qatari funding and policies led directly to October 7.”
The report also noted the Qatari-funded media outlet Al Jazeera, whose operations Israel banned earlier this year. The Israeli military says that some half-dozen Al Jazeera journalists are proven terror operatives, and that Hamas worked closely with the network. All the allegations, though presented with documentary evidence, are denied by the network.
The legislation comes after the Gulf state booted Hamas’s senior leadership, reportedly under pressure from the US to do so, but indicated that the terror group’s Doha mission could remain open, and that the decision to banish its officials may be reversed in the future.
Turkey has confirmed that Hamas’s key foreign leaders are now in Ankara, and Israel appears to have begun engaging more intensively with Turkish officials in order to jumpstart hostage negotiations.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
While Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations with Qatar, the Gulf state has been a major partner in Israel’s policy regarding the Palestinians for years, including by funding the Hamas government in Gaza.
According to a recent Channel 12 report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to ignore intelligence that Qatar was funding Hamas’s military wing, and dispatched officials to the Gulf state on several occasions to ensure it would keep funding the terror regime. The Prime Minister’s Office called the report “baseless.”
Netanyahu’s senior aides also reportedly conducted a PR blitz in 2022 to paint the Gulf state as a peacemaker, in a bid to solicit Jewish tourism there during that year’s World Cup.
Also Sunday, ministers are expected to consider another bill, proposed by Religious Zionist MK Zvi Sukkot and New Hope Minister Ze’ev Elkin, that would empower the defense minister to impose sanctions on workers in “terror-supporting organizations.”
An organization would be considered “terror-supporting,” according to the bill, if it “transfers funds to a terror operative while he is detained or after he is released, or to members of his family because he is a terror operative,” according to Haaretz.
The sanctions include a ban on entry to Israel, confiscation of property, and a ban on business with Israelis, the newspaper reported.
