Foreign Policy Conundrum: Qatar Purchased Billions of U.S. Arms — and Supports Hamas
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Worthy News)– Qatar recently cemented an enormous weapons deal with the United States. But this week, the tiny, resource-rich Gulf kingdom with out-sized geopolitical ambitions — and a seemingly bottomless pocketbook — might be setting itself up for more problematic relations with the U.S., Business Insider reported.
Last week, Qatar closed the largest sale of American weaponry so far this year, purchasing $11 billion worth of Patriot missile batteries and Apache attack helicopters. The sale revealed that Qatar hasn’t exactly been lacking in strategic daring in the wake of its failed bet on Muslim Brotherhood-linked political movements throughout the Middle East, and its subsequent fallout in diplomatic relations with neighboring Gulf monarchies.
But the Gaza-Hamas conflagration casts a problematic light on the Qataris, who have been one of Hamas’s most reliable international partners.
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. — Source
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