Obama-era deal to allow Hamas office in Qatar backfired on US: experts
Fox News
The U.S. supported the establishment of an office for Hamas in Doha in an effort to pry the group away from Iran, but the terrorists merely took advantage and festered in Gaza.
"That thesis was disproven on Oct. 7, so whatever has happened in the last few years, it doesn't matter because Oct. 7 now stands as the new reality," Goldberg, also senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. "It disproves anybody's hypotheses that Hamas would somehow become a governing entity, not a terrorist group." Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.
Qatar's Ambassador to Washington Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that his government set up the Hamas political office in Doha "after a request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication" in 2012. He claimed the office "frequently" served in mediation efforts and helped de-escalate conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"The presence of the Hamas office shouldn’t be confused with endorsement but rather establishes an important channel for indirect communication," the minister wrote.