Report: Biden to Allow Hamas-linked Contractor to Participate in Gaza Pier

The Biden Administration is reportedly preparing to allow a Hamas-linked contractor to participate in the construction of the floating port that the U.S. military is preparing to build off the coast of Gaza to assist the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The shocking report comes from Baruch Yedid, the Arab affairs correspondent for Israel’s Channel 14, who reported that the Biden administration had asked Qatar to finance the project. Qatar agreed, on condition that the project be performed by the Al Hissi company, a company with close ties to Hamas, and which has been the primary contractor within Gaza under Hamas rule. The project would therefore enrich Hamas and ensure it can continue to exist, and fight.

It is not clear how Al Hissi would be involved. Other reports indicate that the U.S. military is assembling and building components of the pier before shipping them to the region on U.S. military vessels. But President Joe Biden promised that there would be no American “boots on the ground” for the project, leaving open the possibility that Palestinian contractors would handle the task of ferrying goods from the pier to a facility onshore that could receive containers.

In an additional irony, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops who will be providing onshore security for the building of the pier would, essentially, be protecting a Hamas asset and allowing a Hamas-linked contractor to make millions.

Journalist Caroline Glick translated an interview with Yedid on Monday:

USAID, which is responsible for carrying out Biden’s plan to build a port in Gaza, has transferred control over the project to a partnership of Qatar and Hamas.@BaruchYedid @Now14Israel‘s Arab affairs correspondent reported all the details yesterday. I translated his report,… https://t.co/dBDj6dlC62

— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) March 19, 2024

Host Shimon Riklin: You’re bringing an initial report that the pier that is being built in the Gaza Strip will be owned by Qatar/Hamas.

Arab Affairs Correspondent Baruch Yedid: Yes. Yes. The Americans asked the Qataris to take on the financing and management and the operation as we reported last Wednesday based on Arab sources. A few days ago the Americans conferred in Cyprus with several parties including the Emiratis and the Qataris. I can report that the only one who so far has agreed to finance this port, this pier is Qatar. Qatar has an interest in this port. Qatar wants to preserve Hamas. It wants control over a central artery of life in the Gaza Strip. It also wants a leverage point over Hamas. That’s why it’s clear why Qatar is involved.

Riklin: What about the State of Israel?

Yedid: Israel is not involved in this issue.

Crosstalk.

Yedid: Israel is not being included in the discussions. I’ll get to Israel shortly. Why is this good for Hamas? Hamas views this as a sort of aspirin, that’s what people in Gaza are telling us. Hamas is concerned about this pier which they fear will legitimize continuous Israeli presence in Gaza for the long run. Israel you asked about? Israel, from our diplomatic sources, Israel opposed. The Americans ignored us and assigned the Qataris to run the project. The Qataris didn’t only say yes, the Qataris came with an additional demand. The Qataris wanted this port to be built by a company named Al Hissi from Gaza. A bit about the Al Hissi Company. Today, contractors in Gaza are very angry at this company, the Al Hissi Company that is owned by Yasser al Hissi. This company is the primary supplier for engineering, electricity and infrastructure for Hamas, a lot of the municipalities, local governing councils, transportation infrastructure in Sejaeeya, Gaza City, Khan Yunis and other locales. It’s controlled by Palestinian officers. It also transfers, according to contractors in Gaza…

Riklin: Wait, wait Baruch, you’re bringing a lot of information. I want to make this clear to our audience. Can you say that this company Al Hissi is a Hamas company, that it’s controlled by Hamas?

Yedid: It is controlled and a subsidiary of Hamas. It wins massive contracts.

Noam Amir (military correspondent): And what will it do with the concrete for the port?

Riklin: I don’t understand what is going on here. I don’t understand. This pier will be controlled by Hamas and Qatari control. We have IDF soldiers guarding the area. I don’t understand how this … works.

Yedid: This company also carried out most of Qatar’s projects [in Gaza]. Here you see on the screen the heads of the company with the ambassador Amadi. This is the man who brought the suitcases of cash into Gaza. This is the Qatari ambassador. Here is the company on the right, signing the contracts. This company is registered in the Palestinian Authority. Who is bringing it in, the same “cabinet” of American foreign charity [USAID] which assigns this body to coordinate the entire project. This is the body that is bringing in the Al Hissi Company. So here we’ve arrived at a point where the Qataris will have control because they’re the financiers. This is good for Hamas because their company is operating it. When the original idea was to isolate Hamas. Here we have another instance – and not a lone instance – of Qatari-American cooperation. Yesterday, a senior Jordanian officer spoke to one of the Arab media outlets and said, “If Hamas is there, I’m concerned.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is run by Samantha Power, a Biden Administration official with a long history of hostility toward Israel — one that she has continued into the present conflict against Hamas.

Asked on Tuesday about a potential role for the Hamas-linked Al Hissi company, a spokesman for Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) declined to elaborate, but said that Israel was working with the UAE and World Central Kitchen in “making sure that the aid is getting to where it needs to get to” from the pier.

This article has been update to include comment from Israel and information about U.S. assembly of the pier.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.