Israeli Opposition: ‘Qatar funded Netanyahu’s party Likud with $3M’

CAIRO - 3 July 2017: Qatar is said to have funded the electoral campaign of “Likud” party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu with $3 million in order to make his campaign successful during the 2015 Knesset elections, according to Israeli website Media.

Day by day, Israel unfolds the secret connection that brings it together with Qatar that exceeded diplomatic relations to Doha funding electoral campaign of the Israeli parties, with the extremist Likud party in the front line, during the reign of Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

According to the Israeli website, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni explained that the money provided by Qatar to Netanyahu came after his pledge to lessen the pressure on Hamas and hold secret meetings with officials of the movement, if he won the elections.

Livni added, during the meeting that was witnessed by a journalist in the Israeli “Channel 1”, that she was afraid that her rival Benjamin Netanyahu would win because of Qatar’s financial support, which saw Netanyahu as the appropriate person to strengthen relations with Tel Aviv, which began in 1995.

Livni, who once served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2009, also noted the close relations between Netanyahu and Sheikha Mozah, wife of the Emir of Qatar at the time Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and the mother of Prince Tamim, the current ruler of Qatar.

The Israeli website also revealed that the former Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim paid $1 million and a half to the Israeli right-wing nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, to support him politically and to be a party involved in the decision-making process in the Knesset.

The reason behind Bin Jassim’s support of Lieberman goes back to him being the most opposing of Egypt in Israel, as he threatened to strike the high dam in 2002 because of Egypt's support for the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which broke in 2000.

Lieberman now holds the post of the Israeli defense minister after his party won the Knesset elections from 2013 to 2015 because of Qatar’s funding. He also became a participant in the coalition government.

Following the cutting of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates all diplomatic ties as well as all land, sea and air contacts with Qatar on June 5, the Israeli government responded by flooding the Qatari markets with agricultural products from settlements in the West Bank. Doha was also able to pay $25 million in the first week of the boycott.

Furthermore, the Israeli airline "Arkia" announced that the commercial cooperation agreement with Qatar Airways is still ongoing and will not be affected by the political crisis in the Gulf, according to Israeli news website Makor.

In 2005, Arkia signed a cooperation agreement with Qatar Airways, allowing Israeli travelers to travel with the Qatari airlines from Larnaca, Cyprus, to many destinations in the Far East.