May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Here is the genius of Qatar, the
peanut-sized Persian Gulf state that provides material support
to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and possibly some of Syria’s
jihadist rebel groups, in a single image: A two-cheeked kiss, in
public, between Qatar’s second-most powerful man, the prime
minister (and foreign minister), Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin
Jaber Al Thani, and Haim Saban, the Israeli-American billionaire
who funds, among other things, the Saban Center for Middle East
Policy at the Brookings Institution.
The kiss took place at a Brookings dinner last week in
Washington that was convened to pay homage to Al Thani for his
support -- because, yes, in addition to pledging $400 million to
Hamas, Qatar also supports Brookings, one of Washington’s
premier research groups.
