The Four Seasons hotel chain is continuing to avoid questions about its recent hosting of a senior Hamas terror leader during a press conference held at the resort’s Doha location, sparking further questions about the hotel’s relationship with one of the terror group’s top leaders.
Following the Washington Free Beacon’s disclosure last month that the Four Seasons in Doha had hosted a press conference by Khaled Meshaal, a senior Hamas leader who is designated by the United States as a terrorist, the hotel chain quickly pushed back, accusing this outlet of fabricating the story.
"We can confirm with certainty that this press conference was not held at Four Seasons Hotel Doha," the hotel insisted on its official Twitter feed on Sept. 10.
Less than 24 hours later, and under mounting pressure from the Free Beacon and other outlets for further comment, the Four Seasons admitted it had in fact hosted Meshaal.
"On further investigation learned event held at [Four Seasons] Doha," the hotel tweeted the following day. "Hotel not informed of nature of or organization related to event."
The hotel chain continues to avoid further questions about the nature of its relationship with Hamas and Meshaal, who is widely reported to spend significant amounts of time at the Four Seasons and has been sighted residing there.
"We received a booking for a meeting room on the day of the event, for a meeting to be held later that same day," a Four Seasons spokesperson in Doha told the Free Beacon following repeated request for comment. "As noted in the previous statement, we had no reservation under this organization's name, nor were we informed of the nature of or organization related to the event. We do not expect to comment further on this matter."
When asked to address whether Meshaal resides at the hotel and whether the Four Seasons is evaluating its interactions with Hamas, the official stopped responding.
Multiple calls to the Four Seasons’ corporate headquarters in Canada also have gone unreturned in the weeks since Meshaal’s stay at the hotel was revealed.
The Four Seasons hotel chain is jointly owned by Kingdom Holding Company, which is headed by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of the Saudi royal family, and the Cascade Investment Firm, which is owned by Bill Gates.
Meshaal, who resides in Qatar, has been reported to frequent the Four Seasons in Doha, with some reports indicating that he may live there. Meshaal also has been provided shelter by the Qatari government, which is one of Hamas’s top backers.
Terrorism experts remain concerned that the hotel will continue its relationship with Meshaal and ignore questions about the matter.
"Four Seasons admitted that Hamas held a press conference at one of their hotels but never issued guidance as to whether this would be tolerated again in the future, or what would be done to prevent it," said Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance expert at the U.S. Treasury Department.
Experts such as Schanzer have noted that the Four Seasons could be in violation of U.S. laws preventing businesses from providing material support to foreign designated terror groups such as Hamas.
"Four Seasons can certainly claim that it has no control over what happens in its Doha hotel, but it is a business that works in the U.S., Canada, and other countries that are unambiguous about Hamas' status as a terrorist group," Schanzer said. "It may be vulnerable if it refuses to address this problem."
One senior official at a D.C.-based pro-Israel organization expressed disgust with the Four Seasons for continuing to avoid answering questions about its hosting of Hamas.
"Lots of hotels have these packages: If you host your conference in their ballroom, they'll give a discount to your attendees," the official said. "So in a way, the Four Seasons was only extending the same courtesy to murderous global arch-terrorists that they'd extend to everyone else."