In an interview with Politico in 2023, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that "In the last 15 years, Israel did everything to downgrade the Palestinian Authority and to boost Hamas." He continued saying "Gaza was on the brink of collapse because they had no resources, they had no money, and the PA refused to give Hamas any money. Bibi saved them. Bibi made a deal with Qatar and they started to move millions and millions of dollars to Gaza." At a Likud party conference in 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu said:
"Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas ... This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank."
Gershon Hacohen, former commander of the 7th Armored Brigade and an associate of Benjamin Netanyahu, said in 2019 in an interview:
“Netanyahu’s strategy is to prevent the option of two states, so he is turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.”
I presume boosting Hamas over leftist/revolutionary groups meant less support for Palestinian liberation within the population of Europe and maybe in part the US. The reality of religious fundamentalism in Gaza is heavily exploited in Israeli propaganda, it's an effective deterrent still. If Gaza was held by an organization like the YPG/YPJ (Kurdish autonomy regions) Israel would have had far more, earlier resistance from western governments/populations, I think.
hamas started as islamic charity/community support organization. this is when Israel supported it. when it became political and moved to terrorism - israel stopped supporting it. we are talking early 80s here.
This is factually incorrect. Israel officially supported Hamas up until Hamas actually attacked Israel violently, but the hostile/violent intent was known beforehand. Later Israel supported Hamas covertly through Qatar.
"Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas ... This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank."
Gershon Hacohen, former commander of the 7th Armored Brigade and an associate of Benjamin Netanyahu, said in 2019 in an interview:
“Netanyahu’s strategy is to prevent the option of two states, so he is turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-q...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_support_for_Hamas