Chip Usher News Today

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled that a strong Hamas (but not too strong) would keep the peace and reduce pressure for a Palestinian state. Just...

Binyamin Netanyahu’s government has encouraged payments of billions of dollars to Gaza militant group

The Hamas-run Gaza Strip received billions of dollars over a decade. Israeli intelligence officials now believe that the money had a role in the success of the October 7 attacks.

For years, Qatar sent millions of dollars a month into Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only tolerated those payments, he encouraged them.

For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled that a strong Hamas (but not too strong) would keep the peace and reduce pressure for a Palestinian state.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Just weeks before Hamas launched the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the head of Mossad arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a meeting with Qatari officials. For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them. During his meetings in September with Qatari officials, acco...

Netanyahus government had recently decided to continue the policy so Barnea said yes. The Israeli government still welcomed the money from Doha. Allowing the payments -- billions of dollars over roughly a decade -- was a gamble by Netanyahu that a steady flow of money would maintain peace in Gaza, the eventual launching point of the Oct. 7 attacks, and keep Hamas focused on governing, not fighting.

Training artificial intelligence on military-specific doctrine and intelligence to come up with operational plans is an "active area of experimentation right now," according to a Special Competitive Studies Project analyst.