Dubai: Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Tuesday denied reports that its leader Khaled Meshaal has been expelled from Qatar.
“There is no truth to what some media outlets have published over the departure by brother Khaled Meshaal from Doha,” Hamas official Ezzat Al Rishq said by telephone.
Another Hamas source confirmed that Meshaal was still in Doha and has no plans to leave the country.
The Israeli regime’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday praising Qatar for kicking out Meshaal. It said the decision came after heavy lobbying by Israel, which considers Hamas to be a terrorist group.
Its Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman “pushed over the last few years a number of processes in both covert and overt channels with Qatar itself and other nations to bring about the situation in which Qatar would take such a step and halt its assistance to Hamas, both directly and indirectly,” reported Haaretz.
The regime’s envoy to the UN, Ron Prosor recently wrote an op-ed in which he called Qatar “the Club Med for terrorists.”
“Every one of Hamas’s tunnels and rockets might as well have had a sign that read ‘Made possible through a kind donation from the Emir of Qatar.’”
Hamas belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood umbrella group, which is considered by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist group.
Ezzat Al Rishq, a top aide to Mashaal, said the claim, initially reported by CNN citing an unnamed Hamas news agency, was wrong.
Al Rishq said: “There is no basis of truth about brother Khaled Mashaal leaving Doha. We are in Doha now.”
Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran in Qatar also said the report was false.
There was no immediate comment from Qatar, which has allowed Mashaal to set up a base there.
- with inputs from AP and Reuters
Here's the CNN tweet breaking the story:
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal expelled from Qatar, Hamas-run news agency says. http://t.co/PIeQ9RgAqE pic.twitter.com/mo5zXfm8g6— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 6, 2015