An Israeli diplomat on Thursday accused Qatar of funding antisemitism in America, just a day after the U.S. Defense Department formally accepted the “gift” of a $400 million plane to replace Air Force One from the Middle Eastern Muslim country.
Ofir Akunis, the consul general of Israel in New York, spoke out on Fox News after the killing Wednesday night of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, two staff members of the Israeli embassy, outside a Jewish museum in Washington, DC.
Suspect Elias Rodriquez chanted “free, free Palestine” after he was arrested, police said.
Akunis accused Qatar of funding what he characterized as anti-Israel hate protests on American university campuses. He also accused the Gulf state of “playing a double game” by supporting Hamas while Qatar’s leaders insinuate themselves with President Donald Trump in a bid to become a close U.S. ally.
“Their double game is that they are hosting the negotiation [with Hamas] to release the hostages from the tunnels that they built with their own money under the Gaza Strip. It’s money from Qatar. It is not from anywhere else around the world. And now it is another double game,” he added, referring to the university protests.
Qatar has long been a major funder of Hamas, paying some $1.8 billion over the years to the Palestinian militant group.
As part of his Middle East tour last week, Trump visited Qatar, where his Trump Organization has a new deal to build a luxury golf resort in partnership with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The big Qatar gift was a $400 million Boeing 747 — called a “flying palace” for all its luxurious extras – to replace Trump’s Air Force One. The arrangement sparked harsh controversy from critics who said such a gift represented a bribe, and a huge conflict of interest for the president.
Trump called an NBC reporter a “disgrace” after the journalist who questioned him on the ethics of accepting such a massive gift.
Trump claimed it was Qatar that first offered the plane because he said leaders told him: “You’ve done so many things.” Later reports later revealed, however, that it was the Trump administration that sought the plane.
