Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer
Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer
While their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles.
Isabel Vincent and Benjamin Weinthal - NOV 7, 2023
While their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles.
The terror group’s three top leaders alone are worth a staggering total of $11 billion and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar.
The emirate has long welcomed the leaders of the terror group and installed them in its luxury hotels and villas at the same time as it hosts a vast American military presence.
Now US Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is sponsoring a bill that would strip Qatar of its status as a key US ally, The Post has learned, unless it kicks out the Hamas leadership.
The terrorist group, which is responsible for the antisemitic Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 innocent civilians and soldiers in southern Israel, continues to hold over 200 hostages in Gaza.
Hamas runs an office in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Moussa Abu Marzuk and Khaled Mashal maintain a luxurious lifestyle.
They have been seen at its diplomatic club, photographed on private jets, and traveled widely.
The leadership would have been there for the 2022 soccer World Cup.
In contrast, most of the population of more than 2 million in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has ruled since 2007, live in abject poverty.
Haniyeh, 61, the head of Hamas’ politburo, was prime minister of all Palestinian territory following elections in 2006, although he was booted from office a year later.
He continued to rule the Gaza Strip until 2017 before ending up in Qatar.
Haniyeh, a father of 13 who presides over one of the world’s wealthiest terrorist groups, is worth more than $4 billion.
He has been photographed with his two adult sons, Maaz and Abdel Salam, living the high life in luxury hotels in Qatar and Turkey, according to a recent social media post from the Embassy of Israel in the US.
Last week, Haniyeh traveled to Iran to meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran is a longtime sponsor of Hamas.
Last month, the Four Seasons hotel in Doha said he was not one of its guests after calls for Bill Gates, who owns a controlling stake in the chain, to kick him out.
It did not address whether he had previously stayed there.
Among its high-end offerings are suites with sea views starting at $900 a night.
The Hamas leader’s son Maaz Haniyeh is known as “the father of real estate” in Gaza for his collection of villas and buildings.
He lives a playboy lifestyle in Turkey, and this year obtained a Turkish passport, according to Israel Today.
Haniyeh Sr. also has Turkish citizenship, according to reports.
Abu Marzuk, 72, a senior Hamas political leader who heads its “international relations office,” is estimated by the Israeli government to be worth $3 billion.
He has a master’s degree in construction management from Colorado State University and was detained in New York when US immigration authorities found his name on a terrorist watch list in 1995.
And Mashal, 67, who issued a global threat against Jews after the Oct. 7 atrocities, is worth more than $4 billion, according to the Israeli government.
The presence of the Hamas leaders in Qatar has long been justified by the emirate as part of its support for turning the terror group into “a responsible governing power,” according to a report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
The country provides Hamas with between $120 million and $480 million per year, according to the October report by the Washington, DC-based nonprofit that studies foreign policy.
“These funds benefit Hamas leaders directly through payroll and kickback schemes and indirectly through social services and government operations that help Hamas maintain political control over Gaza,” the report said.
Qatar is also home to the Al Jazeera news channel, which the report alleges “spreads antisemitism, anti-Americanism and incitement to violence throughout the Arab world.”
“Qatar is Hamas and Hamas is Qatar,” Yigal Carmon, president of the Washington, DC-based Middle East Media Research Institute, said in an interview with The Post in Israel.
But moves to force action on Hamas are ramping up in DC.
Ogles’ bill would strip Qatar of its special status in the top tier of America’s non-NATO allies alongside Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and Japan.
Ogles told The Post Tuesday, “As Hamas terrorists continue to wreak havoc on the lives of innocent Israeli civilians, the United States must ensure there is no ally supporting them. Sadly, the State of Qatar is still funding and supporting Hamas as its leadership enjoys political refuge in Doha.”
The country has had the special status since last year, but Ogles’ move would make it conditional on removing Hamas.
Along with hosting Hamas, Qatar is also one of the most important military bases for the US in the Middle East.
It is home to US Central Command’s forward base in the Middle East at the giant Al Udeid air base, which itself is vital to Air Force operations in the Gulf.
Qatar is not the only source of Hamas’ cash. The group also took in nearly $400 million in the last two years from the UN, which does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency provided Hamas with $380 million since 2021, according to the FDD.
Much of that cash came from the Biden administration, which has provided $1 billion to the UNRWA since 2021.
“Since UNRWA has long insisted it has no political screen on its aid, and since Hamas is viewed as a political party, we know with near certainty that our taxpayer dollars have been delivered into the hands of Hamas,” the FDD said, adding that the Trump administration ended US contributions to UNRWA because of the Hamas connection.
https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/