Former Mossad Director Yossi Cohen: We Worked With Qatar To Transfer Money To Hamas As Part Of Our National Strategy To Facilitate Proper Civilian Life In Gaza – This Was A Mistake

Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said in an interview that was aired on April 21, 2024 on Keshet 12 TV (Israel) that part of Israel's national strategy was to facilitate proper civilian life in the Gaza Strip, and that it coordinated with Qatar in order to transfer money to Hamas, with the goal of supporting key civilian sectors of the economy. He explained that similar strategies have been employed elsewhere in the world where civilian populations are subject to oppression and poverty. Cohen stated that doing so in the Gaza Strip was a mistake, since Hamas ended up using the money for tunnels, for weapons, for training, and to carry out to the October 7, 2023 attack.

Yossi Cohen: "We approached the Qataris to fund the civilian aspect – this was authorized by the formal State of Israel – the medical, health, education in the Gaza Strip.

Interviewer: "So that it would not explode, and this explosion would be aimed at us?"

Yossi Cohen: "Absolutely. This idea was one of several ideas... strategies that Israel had not to leave the Gaza Strip and its residents out to dry from a financial perspective. We could have done even more than that.

"Had we wanted to prevent any civilian economy in the Gaza Strip, we could have shut down the border crossings, as we did during very round of violence between us and them. We could have not employed 20,000-30,000 Gazan workers in [Israel]. All this was meant to sustain the economy in the Gaza Strip."

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Interviewer: "How weird was it to find yourself flying to Doha, I think with Herzi Halevi, who was the commander of the Southern Command and who is today the Chief of Staff, and coordinating with the Qataris the transfers of money to Hamas?"

Yossi Cohen: "First of all, this was not a bizarre thing. This was a result of our national strategy. It was part of our clandestine effort, until we were exposed in the media in this matter, to achieve that same national goal of facilitating proper civilian life in the Gaza Strip. I must point out that there are similar phenomena in many other parts of the world that are dealing with opposition. Wherever the population lives under oppression and poverty, you say: Let's increase their well-being so that they have something to lose."

Interviewer: "We facilitated the economy in Gaza, Hamas used this for tunnels, for weapons, for its people, for training, and actually for October 7."

Yossi Cohen: "This is very true. And this is why I said this almost three years ago, even publicly: This was a mistake."