Qatar’s Purchase Of Billions Of US Weaponry, And Support For Hamas, Shows How Awkward Foreign…

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Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider that Qatar is “believed to be the primary financier of Hamas,” which has estimated annual operating expenses of around $1 billion.

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David Weinberg, a scholar who also studies the Gulf states at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider by email that Congress hasn't been concerned enough with Qatar's policies to put a hold on weapons sales, and confirmed the Obama administration's recent nominee as ambassador to Doha without controversy.

“It's not clear whether Congress has the stomach for a fight over these issues with an ostensible ally when so much seems to be going wrong elsewhere in the Middle East and when the administration seems to be vouching for Qatari conduct,” wrote Weinberg by email last week, when the Hamas-Israel escalation was at a far different stage.

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