Dozens of Jewish-American activists gathered outside the Los Angeles estate of former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani on Sunday in protest against Doha’s support for Hamas.
The demonstration was led by Rabbi Pini Dunner, spiritual leader of the Beverly Hills Synagogue. Protestors—carrying signs reading, “A Terrorist Financier Lives Here” and “HBJ - Go Back to Qatar"—chanted for the return of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
“Bin Jassim brought Hamas to Doha and funded them with $30 million monthly in Gaza,” Dunner declared during the rally. “He is personally responsible for the Oct. 7th massacre. How is it possible that after all this, he lives in a luxurious mansion in Bel Air, Los Angeles?”
“Qatar pretends to be a mediator, the ‘honest broker’ of the Middle East,” the rabbi noted. “But you know what they really are? They are financiers and supporters of terrorism. All they care about is sowing destruction and chaos in the world and then pretending to solve it.”
Sunday’s rally was a direct continuation of a demonstration held by the Jewish community some two weeks ago outside the Maybourne Beverly Hills hotel, part of a chain owned by the Qataris, he said.
Qatar—which has hosted Hamas and has provided the terror group with hundreds of millions of dollars—has helped mediate the freedom of some Israeli hostages in return for a truce and the release of jailed Palestinian terrorists.
Doha has previously deflected accusations of playing a double game, saying the United States requested that it open the mediation channel.
Israel’s governing coalition is advancing a bill to prohibit terror-funding states from playing a role in diplomatic affairs between Israel and other countries or foreign entities, which would remove Qatar as a mediator.
