"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Friday, December 22, 2023

Whoever owns the Empire State Building sold out to Qatar

Robert Spencer at Front Page points to how the management at NYC's Empire State Building is celebrating Qatar National Day, and what makes this bad is that it's a country that's bankrolled Islamic terrorism just as much as Iran, and just as disturbing is that Qatar's got a huge ownership in the veteran NYC tower:
Who loves Hamas? After Hamas jihadis murdered 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, growing numbers of leftists do. Can we now add the Empire State Building to the list?

The iconic New York landmark announced on X Sunday: “Tonight from midnight until sunrise, we will shine in burgundy and white to celebrate Qatar National Day.” Back in 2016, Qatar shelled out $622 million to buy 9.9 percent of the Empire State Building, and so if the building’s managers wants to honor one their principal shareholders, that’s their business. The timing in this case, however, is particularly ghastly, and raises questions about the propriety of having not-quite-friendly states owning a piece of American landmarks.

It was just over two months ago, on Oct. 7, that Hamas leaders including its top leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal and others, were caught on video happily watching news of the Hamas massacres in Israel, and then prostrating themselves in prayers of gratitude to Allah for the killing of Jews. They were in a plush office in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Hamas’ “Political Bureau,” as opposed to its military, i.e. terrorist, wing, has been located in Doha since 2012. Haniyeh and Mashal live not in Gaza, but in sumptuous digs in Doha. Reuters reported that “a bipartisan group of 113 U.S. lawmakers on Oct. 16 sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to put pressure on countries who support Hamas, including Qatar. They asked that Qatar, a major non-NATO U.S. ally and a channel for U.S. dialogue with the Taliban since a U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, to expel Hamas leadership. ‘The country’s links to Hamas…are simply unacceptable,’ the letter said.”

It is emblematic of the Biden regime’s America-Last leadership that the principal response to that letter appears to be the lighting of the Empire State Building in Qatar’s colors for its national day. What’s more, Qatar never should have been allowed to buy a piece of the Empire State Building in the first place. Investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield reminds us of what the 9/11 Commission Report said about Qatar’s role in the 9/11 jihad attacks. The Commission noted that one of the key masterminds of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, like Haniyeh and Mashal, lived in Qatar.
What makes this chilling is that it undermines the ability to combat Islamisation effectively, and if Qatar's bought into the Empire State Building's ownership, there can be no doubt they've invested in plenty more notable properties and locations around the USA, and other parts of the globe. It's disgraceful how various businesses care so much more about moneymaking at all costs, they're virtually willing to throw all common sense to the winds by doing deals with enemy countries. Which in cases like these are going to end up becoming very costly. Those who care must stop doing deals with enemy countries like Qatar.