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Qatar’s alleged finance of Hezbollah terror movement puts US troops at risk: Dossier

August 06, 2020



WASHINGTON — Qatar's monarchy allegedly financed weapons deliveries to the global terrorist group Hezbollah, endangering the nearly 10,000 US troops stations in the emirate, according to a damning new dossier viewed by Fox News.

This dossier, according to the information that was also reported by The Jerusalem Post, uncovers the alleged involvement of a Qatari royal family member in authorizing arms supply to Hezbollah.

A private security contractor, Jason G., penetrated Qatar’s weapons procurement business as part of an apparent sting operation. He told The Jerusalem Post on Monday and Fox News on Tuesday that a “member of the royal family” allegedly authorized the delivery of military hardware to the US- and EU-designated terrorist entity Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Gulf state’s Al Udeid military base is host to a forward headquarters of US Central Command and to US Air Force squadrons.

The dossier provided by Jason G., and verified by Fox News, documents the alleged role played by the Qatari royal family member since as early as 2017 in a sprawling terror finance scheme.

Fox News reported that Abdulrahman Bin Mohammed Sulaiman Al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s ambassador to Belgium and the NATO, reportedly sought to pay Jason G. 750,000 euros to hush up the role of Qatar’s regime in supplying money and weapons to the Lebanese Shiite organization.

Jason G. said that at a January 2019 meeting with Al-Khulaifi in Brussels, the envoy said, “The Jews are our enemies.” Neither NATO nor the Belgium government responded to Fox News' queries about the ambassador’s role in the alleged affair.

Jason G., who uses an alias to shield himself from Qatari retaliation, said his goal was for “Qatar to stop funding extremists.” The “bad apples need to be taken out of the barrel and for [Qatar] to be part of the international community,” he added.

The new disclosures about Qatar allegedly funding one of the deadliest terrorist movements across the globe casts fresh doubt on the Gulf State’s anti-terror partnership with the US.

In this regard, it is interesting to recall that Dr. Azmi Bishara, an Arab Israeli former parliamentarian who stood accused of aiding Hezbollah in its war against Israel in 2006, found refuge and immunity from prosecution in Doha.

In interviews with Fox News, prominent European politicians urged a swift crackdown on Qatar’s alleged support for terror finance and Hezbollah.

Nathalie Goulet, a French senator who led a commission investigating terror networks in Europe and authored a report for NATO on terror finance, said: “We must have a European policy regarding Qatar and especially be careful with its financing of terrorism. Belgium must ask the EU for an investigation and freeze all Qatari bank account in the meantime.”

She continued, “We have to settle a general policy with a special warning and a prudent policy to prevent any financing of terrorism, especially from countries like Qatar or Turkey” that are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its dangerous anti-Semitic ideology.

Ian Paisley Jr., a member of the British Parliament who tracks terror finance, told Fox News that the Qatari regime conduct “outlined is outrageous and the government both in the UK and Belgium should act decisively."

"These allegations are very serious, particularly given that the ambassador is ambassador to NATO, and this should be investigated and appropriate action taken," he said.

"Hezbollah are a proscribed terrorist group in Britain and working with them can’t be tolerated. I will tomorrow contact the UK foreign secretary and ask him to investigate these allegations and make representations to the ambassador."

According to the dossier, two Qatari charities furnished cash to Hezbollah in Beirut “under the guise of food and medicine.” It named the organizations involved as the Sheikh Eid Bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association and the Education Above All Foundation.

Jason G., who has worked for various intelligence services, confirmed to Fox News that his dossier was viewed as relevant and authentic by top German intelligence officials. The German weekly Die Zeit reported last month that Jason G.’s dossier could fetch as much as 10 million euros.

Qatar’s financial and charity systems have been embroiled in other alleged terror finance schemes as well. The Washington Free Beacon reported in June that a lawsuit filed in New York City asserted that Qatari institutions, including Qatar Charity (formerly known as the Qatar Charitable Society) and Qatar National Bank, funded Palestinian terrorist organizations.

The plaintiffs in the case included the family of Taylor Force, an American military veteran killed by the Palestinian Sunni terrorist organization Hamas in 2016.

“Qatar co-opted several institutions that it dominates and controls to funnel coveted US dollars (the chosen currency of the Middle East terrorist networks) to Hamas and PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] under the false guise of charitable donations,” the lawsuit reads. — Agencies


August 06, 2020
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