U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken invites Qatar to participated in a meeting without Israel, to help build Gaza pier over Israeli objections.
– Official says a Qatari port in Gaza is a dream come true for Hamas.

By Itamar Eichner, Yuval Karni

The United States decided to bring Qatar in to participate in the construction and management of the temporary pier in Gaza, that will bring humanitarian aid into the Strip, despite Israel’s objections. “Qatari involvement in a port in Gaza would be a dream come true for Hamas and it is too bad that Israel missed the gravity of the situation in time to stop it,” according to an Israeli official.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated in a video conference with his counterparts from Cyprus, Qatar, Britain, the UAE, the European Union and the United Nations, to coordinate the maritime corridor to be used to bring humanitarian aid into the Strip. Surprisingly, no Israeli representative participated in the meeting, but Qatari Minister of State Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh al-Khulaifi attended.

“The Americans are rushing ahead,” the senior Israeli official said. “There is coordination between Israel and Cyprus and there is the American initiative to establish the temporary pier and its management and they decided to include Qatar despite our reservations. One can only hope this would be ultimately reversed. Qatar must not have a hold on any port in Gaza.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that only he can stand up to the Americans. “We have to say ‘no’ to the U.S., and anyone who is unable to do so cannot be prime minister,” he said in a jab at war cabinet member Benny Gantz, who visited Washington recently, and who according to polling is likely to beat Netanyahu with a huge majority if elections were held now.

The prime minister told the lawmakers in the committee that if he would have agreed to discuss a two-state solution and would have backed down from his intentions to launch an offensive on Rafah, he could be enjoying a great relationship with Washington. “Any other prime minister would have done that and would have gained the Americans but lost Israel and the battle against Hamas,” he said.

View original Ynet publication at:
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bkji4guaa

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