Hamas Leadership Moves to Turkey

Senior members of Hamas’s leadership have relocated from Qatar to Turkey, Israeli broadcaster Kan News reported Sunday evening.

Unwelcome: After Hamas rejected a proposed hostage deal in August and then executed six captives, including an American citizen, the United States began pressuring Qatar to remove Hamas from its territory.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters that the U.S. warned Qatar it would no longer tolerate Hamas’s presence “in the capitals of any American partner.”

• Near the end of October, Qatar began stalling its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel.
• Then on November 9, it was reported that Qatari officials expelled Hamas’s leadership, telling them, “You are not welcome here.”

New home: Senior Hamas officials are now working in Turkey, according to Israeli sources and an Arab diplomat.

“No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a speech in Istanbul in early March. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”

• This is stunning behavior from a nato ally. Yet it is consistent with Erdoğan’s increasingly strident anti-Israel stance.
• As the second-largest military force in nato, Turkey is strategically positioned to become a major threat to Israel.

Learn more: Read “Turkey—Israel’s Future Enemy.”