Yaakov Katz: ‘We Now Know’ that Giving Qatari Money to Hamas ‘Was Foolish’

EXCERPT:

KATZ: “Had we spoken October 6, 2023, I probably would have told you, look, it's working. I mean, the Qatari money makes sense. Hamas doesn't want war. It just wants economic prosperity. It wants to improve the situation in Gaza. That was the prevalent assessment throughout the political echelon, the defense establishment, and of course, within the military. We now know that that was foolish, that Hamas was taking this money and using it to build that network of tunnels that's the equivalent of the New York subway and the London Underground put together under Gaza and so much more. But the thinking for Netanyahu was that if I can pay off with the Qatari money Hamas, I can stave off that war. I can kick the can down the road. That's a good day for Israel. Let's avoid that war. Look at how tragic this war has been for Israel and of course, also for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. That place has been destroyed and devastated. So it wasn't necessarily a bad idea on the big picture, on the macro, but on the micro to think that you can pay off a genocidal terrorist group, we should watch a few more movies like 'The Godfather.' You never want to pay the extortion money. That might be a good lesson.”