Qatar’s “gift” of the “flying palace” Boeing 747-8 to serve as the next Air Force One has yet to be clarified. President Trump himself has described it as a “gift” from the government of Qatar (and not some third-party). It is a “gift” to the Pentagon that may be transferred to Trump’s future presidential library. President Trump emphasizes that it is not a gift personally to him. We have yet to see the terms of the “gift.”
It could be that the Qataris simply seek to offload the jet to an entity willing to incur the expenses. It could be that that the “gift” will be made outright to the Pentagon. Whatever the terms of the gift, however, we can be sure that it is a “gift” with expectations attached from a country that is not our friend, even if President Biden designated it a major non-NATO ally.
Douglas Murray tells the tale of the tail — the plane’s tail:
[T]he Qatari jet actually belonged to the former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hama bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
His initials — HBJ — are even in the plane’s tail number.
And a very different type of tale lies under that.
HBJ is one of the chiefest villains in the Middle East.
Before, during and since being the prime minister of Qatar, he has been one of the chief funders of Hamas.
He was the person behind the $30 million monthly payments that the Qataris gave to Hamas in Gaza.
It is also thanks to HBJ that so much of the leadership of Hamas still get to still live in luxury in Qatar’s best 5-star hotels.
More on HBJ here.
In any event, this is how Qatar rolls. It hosts the Muslim Brotherhood. It hosts a US airbase, the largest US facility in the region. It hosts Hamas. It funds Al Jazeera (which, by the way, is overseen by HBJ. It plays both sides but seems to have its heart in the bad side. It is not our friend.
Frannie Block and Jay Solomon’s troubling Free Press investigation “How Qatar bought America” makes an invaluable contribution to the present controversy. It seems to me to provide the relevant context. See also Benjamin Baird’s Middle East Forum investigation “America for Sale: Qatar’s $40 Billion Spending Spree Buys Influence and Control of Elite Institutions.”
