schanzer and i'd like like to welcome back dr. matthew leavitt's who directs the program and counterterrorism and intelligence at the washington institute for near east policy. previously he served as the deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the u.s. department of the treasury. before that as a fbi counterterrorism analyst. we are glad to have you back with us today dr. leavitt. finally i would like to welcome elon goldenberg is a senior fellow and her of the middle east security program at the center for a new american security. prior to cnas mr. goldberg served as the chief of the staff to the special envoy for israeli-palestinian negotiations at the u.s. department of state from 2012 to 2013 mr. goldenberg served as a senior professional staff member on the senate or in relations committee covering middle east issues. in that capacity he acted as one of the elite directors of the serious transition support act which provide additional authorities to arm the serious opposition. the bill passed the senate f

schanzer and i'd like like to welcome back dr. matthew leavitt's who directs the program and counterterrorism and intelligence at the washington institute for near east policy. previously he served as the deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the u.s. department of the treasury. before that as a fbi counterterrorism analyst. we are glad to have you back with us today dr. leavitt. finally i would like to welcome elon goldenberg is a senior fellow and her of the middle east security program at the center for a new american security. prior to cnas mr. goldberg served as the chief of the staff to the special envoy for israeli-palestinian negotiations at the u.s. department of state from 2012 to 2013 mr. goldenberg served as a senior professional staff member on the senate or in relations committee covering middle east issues. in that capacity he acted as one of the elite directors of the serious transition support act which provide additional authorities to arm the serious opposition. the bill passed the senate f

schanzer. >> thank you, congressman deutsch. i'm not sure where to begin. in terms of the -- the potential benefits from qatar working with hamas or allowing hamas to operate out of there, i think it's sort of a counter factual. we have yet to see what the benefits are other than the fact that the israels have allowed qataris to provide assistance to gaza, not to hamas but the people of gaza for reconstruction. we would all agree it has helped perhaps forestau a major humanitarian disaster. for that, we should be thankful. but from there i do have to question, i mean, it's not like hamas doesn't have other plays where it can operate. it has a base in turkey, for example. it has its home base in the gaza strip and operates out of the west bank and out of sudan, lebanon. it has a major presence across the middle east. why does it have to operate inside doha where they get a certain amount of legitimacy for this. one other thing to note is people talk how qatar may have helped perhaps bring the conflict to an end in 2014. if you speak to the other actors in th

schanzer, how would you describe qatar's relationship with iran? >> uneasy. although also a bit more ambiguous than what has been previously described. that they arense a small country, a weak country and are looking across the persian gulf at a powerful country on the precipice of a nuclear weapon and the need to figure out a way to get along with his neighbor, especially one with eight share this natural gas field. i think that explains in general the dynamic, but we have been hearing that there could be more cooperation and was previously seen. this is essentially what the gulf protect has been alleging against qatar that it has been working the iranians or perhaps with the proxies, i've heard allegations not just of hamas, where we know there has been a , butration on all fronts also potentially has the law. we have heard these things and there's not a lot of evidence yet to prove these things, but it is something worth watching. thatere are also reports qatari money has ended up in iraq and the iranian backed blessed groups there. >> correct. >> what abo