Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) called on billionaire Bill Gates to step in and ban Hamas terrorists from using any Four Seasons hotel, including one of the company’s properties in Qatar, noting that the Microsoft co-founder and former CEO had a controlling interest in the chain. hotel through his investment firm.
A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Waltz wrote to Gates on Tuesday urging him to bar jihadists from any Four Seasons Hotel and Resort – and said he could be subject to “counterterrorism sanctions” if he refused to comply.
Hamas’s political wing has previously hosted events at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, including a 2016 reception with then-Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a 2015 press conference by senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashal.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) called on billionaire Bill Gates to ban Hamas terrorists from using any Four Seasons hotel, including one of the company’s resorts in Qatar.Getty Images A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Waltz said Gates may be subject to “anti-terrorism sanctions” if he refuses to comply.Getty Images
Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, has also stayed at the luxury resort and has accused by a member of the Israeli Foreign Ministry “relaxed” there while overseeing the October 7 barbaric terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians as well as ordering Palestinians to be barred from leaving the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground attack by the Israel Defense Forces.
The Four Seasons said in a statement on Oct. 15 that “Haniyeh did not stay at or stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha,” but did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about the length of her previous stay.
Gates’ Cascade Investment, LLC, acquired a majority stake in Four Seasons in 2021, when the firm bought 23.75% of the hotel company from Saudi Arabian billionaire Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud.
AFP via Getty Images
“Others have allegedly lived there ever since, including during and after the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks that have so far left at least 1,400 people dead in Israel, 3,400 others injured, and 199 kidnapped,” Waltz wrote on Tuesday.
“At least 260 people were killed in a music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. The State Department has confirmed that so far 30 US citizens have been killed with 13 more unaccounted for,” he added.
“There are credible reports of babies being beheaded, people being burned alive, others being raped, still others possibly being tortured, with their suffering broadcast, in the coming weeks.”
Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, had also previously stayed at the luxury resort and had been accused by members of the Israeli Foreign Ministry of “lying around” there. Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images
Waltz went on to state that providing “material support” to a terrorist organization would open Gates to “legal penalties, including up to life in prison.”
“Possibly immediately, it mandates the broad exclusion from the United States of any non-US person who engages in terrorist activity, including through actions such as providing material support, such as housing, for terrorists,”
The Florida Republican also said that Gates’ name could be added to the National Counterterrorism Center and the State Department’s visa database, or even placed on the Transportation Security Administration’s “Do Not Fly” list for the Four Seasons after colluding with Hamas.
Waltz went on to state that providing “material support” to a US-designated foreign terrorist organization would open Gates to “legal penalties, including up to life in prison.” dpa/pakatan image via Getty Images
“Although the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security can issue exemptions for certain limited material support, among other things, as a matter of policy this could be reversed by a future administration,” Waltz added, pointing out that at one point 1.6 million people were in the government’s database for enable the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“An affirmative finding by the government may not be communicated to you or them immediately, but instead disclosed either through an indictment, through denial of entry at a future US port, or some other action,” Waltz said. “I would advise you to share this knowledge with the staff of Cascade Investment, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and your Four Seasons hotel in Doha.”
The letter was also sent to Isadore Sharp, founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Neither the Gates Foundation nor Cascade immediately responded to requests for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
