Netanyahu detractors claim he created Hamas, Breitbart says false

Detractors of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have begun to say that he is responsible for the rise or at least the strengthening of Hamas, but Breitbart News fact-checked this allegation as "mostly false."

His opponents want the public to believe that he strengthened Hamas to counterbalance the Palestinian Authority.

They pointed to a 2019 quote, supposedly from Netanyahu, which said, “Those who want to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state should support the strengthening of Hamas and the transfer of money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy.”

Breitbart pointed out that the quote was from Al Jazeera based on a quote from Ha’aretz, and both of those outlets strongly oppose Netanyahu.

Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Netanyahu has compared it to ISIS in its brutality.

The quote, if accurate, likely stems from a debate around that time about whether to allow Qatar to give money to Gaza, ostensibly to help the people there and not to fund Hamas terror.