On Dec. 6, Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi crossed from Israel into Gaza to deliver $15 million in cash, the second installment of his country’s six-month aid package for the Strip. The following day, using part of the Qatari grant, Hamas paid the wages of thousands of its employees.
Prior to the delivery, Israel and the Qatari ambassador negotiated over how to transfer the funds. On Nov. 8, Hamas disseminated photos of suitcases stuffed with cash arriving in the Strip in order to show the world that the Islamist organization ruling Gaza had been successful in bending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to its will. The documentation did, indeed, embarrass Netanyahu, who came in for harsh criticism both from the political right and the left for giving in to Hamas blackmail in return for its pledge to prevent Palestinian rioting along the Gaza border fence with Israel. Avigdor Liberman, who resigned as defense minister last month over Netanyahu’s Gaza policy, called the payments “protection” money.
