Senate Republicans Mounted an Effort To Threaten Qatar To Expel Hamas Leaders. After Trump's Win, an Israeli News Report Suggests It May Have Worked.
Earlier this week, congressional Republicans mounted an effort to punish Qatar for providing shelter to Hamas's remaining leadership, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Now, following former president Donald Trump's election, an Israeli news report suggests that the Gulf state has informed Hamas it is no longer welcome in Doha.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) and Jim Risch (R., Idaho)—the ranking members on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees—sent a letter to the Biden-Harris administration on Monday arguing that it is past time for the United States to threaten severe diplomatic repercussions for Doha if it does not freeze Hamas’s assets and turn over the terror group's top leaders who reside in the country. One day later, Trump, whose administration will undoubtedly take a tougher approach toward Hamas and its benefactors in Tehran, cemented his return to the White House.
Then, on Friday, Israel's national public broadcaster, Kan, reported that Qatar informed Hamas's leaders they are "not welcome here." The move "is taking place due to heavy American pressure," according to the report.
SCOOP: Qatar has conveyed to Hamas representatives on its soil - You're no longer welcomed here. More details on this major change - tonight at @kann_news
— Gili Cohen (@gilicohen10) November 8, 2024
Neither the White House nor the Qatari embassy responded to requests for comment on that report, though an anonymous source told Jewish Insider that the Biden-Harris administration also asked Qatar to expel Hamas leaders when they rejected a ceasefire shortly before the U.S. election. The official would not say whether there is a deadline for Hamas leaders to leave, meaning it is unclear if they have already done so.
The expulsion of Hamas from Qatar would deal a major blow to the terror group. Its top leaders have long lived in luxury in Doha, residing in opulent hotels and sitting on billions of dollars in assets.
Wicker and Risch's coordinated pressure campaign was more than a year in the making and signals that lawmakers are fed up with Qatar’s policy of providing protection to Hamas, even as Doha plays a central role in the U.S.-led efforts to broker a ceasefire between the militant group and Israel. The senators say that Qatar can no longer play both sides of the war and risks losing its elite diplomatic status with America if Hamas’s leaders are not turned over.
"The defeat of Hamas is within reach, and ending the safe haven that its leadership enjoys abroad is vital to defeating it," Wicker, Risch, and 12 of their GOP colleagues wrote in a letter sent Monday to the State and Justice Departments and obtained by the Free Beacon. There is no path towards an enduring ceasefire while Qatar provides shelter to Hamas and treats its leadership as protected dignitaries, the lawmakers say.
The Biden-Harris administration has relied on Doha to push Hamas into a ceasefire, emboldening Qatar’s intransigence. These efforts have repeatedly failed and deepened distrust between American lawmakers and the Middle Eastern power. The Biden-Harris administration nonetheless long declined to pressure Qatar, fearing hopes of a ceasefire would be dashed.
"The administration has permitted Qatar to facilitate negotiations by hosting Hamas’ leadership," the lawmakers wrote. "Hamas’ Doha-based leaders have exploited this arrangement, and used the relative freedom that Qatar has afforded them to oppose ceasefire negotiations in international media, host Iranian officials at Hamas’ Doha headquarters, and travel abroad."
"It is long past time the administration ask Qatar to freeze Hamas leaders’ assets, shut their access to international media, end their ability to host foreign visitors, and prevent them from traveling abroad," the senators wrote.
As a first step, Qatar must immediately freeze Hamas’s assets, including the $11 billion fortune the group’s leaders sit on from Doha. Hamas’s finances have long been routed through Qatar, even amid evidence these funds have helped the group orchestrate numerous terror attacks on Israel.
After cutting off Hamas’s financial avenues, the lawmakers wrote, Qatar must turn over Khaled Meshal, tipped to be Hamas's temporary leader following the death of Yahya Sinwar, and Khalil Al-Hayya, the terror group’s deputy chairman. Both were named in a landmark September indictment from the Justice Department identifying them as the masterminds behind the Oct. 7 attack.
From his perch in Qatar, Al-Hayya is known to have enlisted Iran and Hezbollah as Hamas planned the Oct. 7 strike. He "should no longer be permitted to live risk-free in Doha," the senators wrote. "He should be indicted immediately for his role in killing Americans and taking Americans hostage, and then extradited to the United States to face justice."
Once Meshal and Al-Hayya are turned over, Qatar must cut all remaining ties to the group, ending its decades of appeasement, the senators say.
These steps would immediately "end the war that Hamas started with its brutal terrorist massacre on October 7, 2023, in which it killed nearly 1200 people, including 46 Americans, and took 250 hostages, including twelve Americans," according to the lawmakers.
It's unclear the extent to which Qatar is taking those steps.
Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department, said any efforts to punish Qatar would represent "a major course correction for U.S. policy."
Hamas’s "leadership is in disarray," said Schanzer, a Middle East analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. "A move now to bring the remaining terrorist leaders to justice would serve as a final nail in the Hamas coffin. The only thing missing right now is political will."
Update 5:15 p.m.: This piece has been updated with additional information.
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