Nikki Haley Backs Off of Controversial Statement About Qatar and Hamas

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is now clarifying a previous controversial statement denying that Qatar gives financial support for Hamas. According to a December 7th letter to Nebraska Republican Congressman Don Bacon, which Tablet has obtained, Haley is now partially backing off of an October memo to Congress, in which she wrote that Doha “does not fund Hamas” and appeared to draw distinctions between Hamas’s political and military wings that run contrary to decades of US policy towards the group.

Haley, who is perhaps the most admired figure in the Trump administration among the US’s politically diverse pro-Israel community, submitted a written answer to a House Foreign Affairs Committee question in October, stating that “While the Qatari government does not fund Hamas, it does allow Hamas political representatives to be based in Qatar, which Qatar believes limits Iran’s influence and pressure over Hamas.” A bipartisan group of eight congressmen asked Haley to elaborate on her comments in a letter last month, sharing their concern that Haley’s memo “implies the U.S. now recognizes a distinction between Hamas political and military wings and finds Qatar’s relations with and sanctuary for Hamas officials to be legitimate, which would be a change in US policy.”

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