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Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders leading a prayer before hosting an Iftar Ramadan fast-breaking dinner in Qatar with Qatari officials and international diplomats April 13, 2023 (Hamas.ps)
Shortly after the start of Hamas’s brutal attack against Israel on October 7, a video began circulating of the terror group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh in his elegant office in the Qatari capital Doha, watching the bloody onslaught unfold on Al Jazeera and “prostrating in gratitude” with a group of other Hamas officials for the killing of over 1,300 Israelis, among them at least 1,000 civilians.
For years, Haniyeh has been rebuked by many Palestinians for leading a comfortable life away from the hardships of Gaza in the oil-rich Gulf monarchy, which offers shelter to the terror group’s leaders and an internationally recognized platform to spread its propaganda through Al Jazeera.
Before Hamas’s win in the Palestinian elections against Fatah in 2006, Haniyeh was not a prominent member of the terror group’s leadership. After the electoral victory, his star began to rise.
He was appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, and his wealth rapidly grew thanks to the control that he and other ministers in the Hamas government exerted over the Gazan economy and the taxes they levied on goods imported into the Strip from Egypt.
Senior Hamas figures, including Haniyeh, would levy a 20 percent tax on all of the trade passing through the tunnels, according to a 2014 report in Ynet, an Israeli news site.
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A senior PA official alleged that the tunnel-smuggling market had transformed 1,700 senior Hamas officials into millionaires, according to a report in Saudi weekly Al-Majalla.
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In 2010, Haniyeh spent $4 million on a plot of land on the Gazan beachfront near the Shati refugee camp where he grew up, which he registered under his son-in-law’s name, according to Egyptian magazine Rose al-Yusuf.
Since then, Haniyeh has purchased several apartments, villas and buildings in the Gaza Strip, registered in the names of some of his 13 children.
His lavish holdings contrast sharply with endemic poverty in the Gaza Strip, where some half of the population is unemployed, and per capita GDP was around $5,600 annually in 2021, making it one of the poorest places in the world.
Some experts blame its stunted economic growth on the Israeli-Egyptian blockade in force since 2007, which has imposed restrictions on goods traveling in or out of the Strip. Israel says the restrictions are necessary for security reasons, to prevent Hamas from arming and building tunnels into Israel. Corruption is also believed to be widespread.
People gather around the official countdown clock showing remaining time until the kick-off of the World Cup in Doha, Qatar, November 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The Gazan economy is heavily dependent on foreign aid, with Qatar topping the list of donors – the Gulf monarchy is estimated to have contributed over $1.5 billion over the past decade, although the money has been disbursed as stipends for public officials and poor families, and not to develop the economy.
The gap between Hamas’s leaders and the Gaza street extends beyond their bank accounts, with the terror group’s brass and their families seemingly able to leave the beleaguered enclave at will, a benefit few Gazans enjoy.
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On December 30, 2022, the Saudi news website Elaph cited a “knowledgeable Palestinian source” saying that Haniyeh’s son Maaz, known in Gaza as Abu Al-Iqarat, or “The Father of Real Estate,” obtained a Turkish passport, which allowed him to easily exit Gaza and travel abroad, and invest in properties in Turkey.
File: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh flashes the victory sign before he speaks to journalists after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The article further claimed that Maaz, and other sons of the Haniyeh family, drink alcohol abroad and spend time with women other than their wives in luxury nightclubs. Elaph also reported that Haniyeh’s children own generators, and sell electricity, a rare commodity in an area under constant power shortages, while they themselves get it for free.
In July 2022, a document was shared on Palestinian social media showing an official list of travelers who had been given permission to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Among the names was Haniyeh’s son Hazem, along with his wife and two children, who left Gaza to join other members of the Haniya family in Turkey.
The revelation sparked a social media campaign against the Hamas leadership, titled “Our Hands Are Clean” — a rarity in the Strip, where political dissent is generally not tolerated.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the name was an allusion to a speech given by Haniyeh in 2009 on the 22nd anniversary of Hamas’s founding, in which he said: “Our hands are clean. We do not steal funds, hold real estate or build villas…”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh delivering a speech during an Iftar dinner in Qatar with Qatari officials and international diplomats, April 13, 2023 (Hamas.ps)
This year, Hamas held a festive iftar (evening meal at the close of the daily Ramadan fast) in Qatar’s capital Doha for some 30 diplomats from Arab and Islamic states and several “friendly non-Arab countries,” as well as Qatari ministers and MPs.
The event, publicized on Hamas’s online platforms, took place in Doha’s Diplomatic Club, reflecting the high status that Hamas enjoys in the Gulf monarchy. Among the participants were the ambassadors of Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, and Russia, as well as “a security adviser from a large European country,” according to the al-Arabi al-Jadid daily.
가자지구 아비규환인데…카타르 호화 호텔서 웃는 하마스 지도부
박세영 기자입력 2023. 10. 17. 23:51수정 2023. 10. 18. 08:15
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‘깔끔한 사무실에서 양복 차림으로 웃으며 공격 방송 시청’ 동영상 퍼져
카타르에 머무는 것으로 알려진 이스마일 하니예 등 하마스 지도부. X(옛 트위터) 캡처
팔레스타인 무장정파 하마스의 지도부가 카타르에서 호화 생활을 즐기고 있다는 의혹이 제기된다고 이스라엘 영자 매체 타임스오브이스라엘(TOI)이 17일(현지시간) 보도했다.
카타르는 현재 하마스의 유일한 대외 협상 창구 역할을 하는 중동 국가다. 보도에 따르면 지난 7일 하마스가 이스라엘을 기습한 이후 SNS에는 하마스의 정치 지도자 이스마일 하니예가 카타르 수도 도하의 사무실에 머물고 있는 영상이 확산했다.
영상에서 하니예는 지도부 구성원과 함께 깔끔한 양복 차림을 하고선 하마스가 이스라엘을 공격하는 모습이 촬영된 알자지라 방송을 TV로 시청하며 미소 짓는다.
곧이어 이들은 카펫이 깔린 바닥에 엎드려 감사 기도를 올린다.
TOI는 “하니예는 도하의 우아한 사무실에서 민간인 최소 1000명을 포함한 이스라엘인 1300명을 죽인 잔혹한 공격을 지켜봤다”고 비판했다. 이어 “하니예는 지난 수년간 가자지구의 고난에서 벗어나 석유가 풍부한 카타르 왕정에서 편안한 삶을 영위한다는 비판을 받아왔다”고 지적했다.
알 자지라를 시청하는 하마스 지도부. X(옛 트위터) 동영상 캡처
영국 일간 텔레그래프도 하니예가 “5성급 호텔서 사치스러운 생활을 하고 있다”며 “에어컨이 켜진 도하 사무실에서 이스라엘인 대학살을 축하하며 웃고 기도하는 모습”이라고 보도했다. 하니예는 2006년 팔레스타인 총선에서 하마스가 파타를 꺾고 승리한 이후 주목받기 시작했으며, 가자지구 자치정부 총리로 임명된 이후 이집트에서 수입되는 상품들에 대한 관세 통제권을 장악하면서 급격히 부를 축적한 것으로 알려졌다.
이집트 매체 ‘로즈 알 유수프’에 따르면 하니예는 샤티 난민캠프 인근 가자 해변에 400만달러(약 54억2400만원)를 투자했으며, 이후에도 가자지구의 아파트와 별장, 건물 등을 여러 채 구입하고 일부를 자녀 이름으로 등록했다.
지난해 12월 사우디아라비아 매체 엘라프는 소식통을 인용해 “마즈를 비롯한 하니예의 아들들은 해외에서 고급 나이트클럽을 다니며 술을 마시고 여자들과 시간을 보낸다”고 보도하기도 했다.
벤 월러스 전 영국 국방장관은 “카타르가 최악 중에서도 최악인 테러리스트 지도자들을 내쫓을 때까지 카타르를 제재해야 한다”고 주장했다고 텔레그래프는 전했다.
박세영 기자
https://v.daum.net/v/20231017235105243
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