He also listed a succession of Israeli prime ministers and security agencies that, he said, endorsed Qatar\u2019s sending funds into Gaza in the years before the Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023: \u201c[Prime Ministers] Netanyahu, Bennett, we have dealt with all the agencies, Lapid was the prime minister at a certain point of time, Mossad, Shin Bet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u2026 and the Defense [Ministry], all of them were involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Qatar decides not to back reconstruction projects in Gaza, it is even more unclear who would be willing to do so, as Doha had been seen to place fewer conditions on its support than other wealthy Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which have insisted they won\u2019t offer funds absent a clear pathway to the establishment of a Palestinian state, which Israel rejects.<\/p>\n
The UN suggested last month that it would cost approximately $70 billion to rebuild Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been flattened, estimating that around 75 percent of buildings in the Strip have been damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20251206__87AL3VE__v1__HighRes__QatarPoliticsDiplomacyFourm.jpg\")
\n\t\tQatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani attends a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha, December 6, 2025. (Mahmud Hams\/AFP)<\/p>\n
In April, the EU pledged $1.6 billion euros ($1.87 billion) toward rebuilding Gaza, and last week Chinese President Xi Jinping promised $100 million in aid, but it still remains unclear who will foot most of the bill.<\/p>\n
At the end of Al Thani\u2019s onstage interview with Tucker Carlson, the American conservative commentator and conspiracy theorist announced that he will be purchasing a home in Qatar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been criticized as being a tool of Qatar\u2026 I\u2019ve never taken anything from your country and don\u2019t plan to. I am, however, tomorrow, buying a place in Qatar,\u201d Carlson said on stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing that because I like the city, I think it\u2019s beautiful, but also to make the statement that I\u2019m an American and a free man and I\u2019ll be wherever I want to be,\u201d the former Fox News presenter said.<\/p>\n
Qatar is classified by Washington as a major non-NATO ally, and has assiduously courted US President Donald Trump, gifting him a luxury plane in May to serve as a new Air Force One amid delays in the delivery of new presidential aircraft.<\/p>\n
\t Al Thani said Sunday that unnamed people were putting in \u201ca lot of effort to sabotage the relationship between Qatar and the United States and to try to demonize anyone who will come to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n He acknowledged outreach by the Gulf country to the United States \u201cto make sure that this relationship is safeguarded and the relationship for us is mutually beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe pay all these amounts for lobbying only to protect and to safeguard this relationship,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Qatar was a key mediator of the ongoing US-backed truce in Gaza, and has come under fire in the past from US and Israeli political figures for hosting the political bureau of the Hamas terror group, which it has done with Washington\u2019s blessing since 2012.<\/p>\n Doha has nonetheless fiercely denied support for the group.<\/p>\n In September, Israel carried out a strike in Doha, targeting Hamas negotiators in an unprecedented regional escalation during the Gaza war.<\/p>\n Trump pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize<\/a> to Doha in a phone call with Al Thani in which he\u00a0\u201cexpressed his deep regret that Israel\u2019s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,\u201d as well as the fact that \u201cin targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tUS political commentator Tucker Carlson speaks during the public memorial service for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
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