Just 300 meters separate St. Joseph’s Hospital from Israel’s National Security Ministry in Jerusalem. On this hill, also known as the Government Quarter in East Jerusalem, stand the national headquarters of the Israel Police, the Housing Ministry and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Nearby are the consular buildings of several European countries, including France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Britain. These diplomatic missions operate directly with the Palestinian Authority. Alongside them stands a building backed not by a European state, but by the government of Qatar: the Catholic St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Over the past year, St. Joseph’s Hospital has received a donation of about $7 million from the Qatar Fund for Development, the Qatari government’s arm for foreign aid and international development.
Speaking with ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, hospital director general Jamil Koussa said the hospital has raised a total of roughly $60 million for a major renovation project, including doubling its number of inpatient beds.
“The donation was given before October 7,” Koussa said. “If Israel brings me 25 or 30 million shekels, I will tell Qatar I do not need them. But the Health Ministry brought us only 3 million shekels.”
St. Joseph’s Hospital is a long-standing Christian medical institution in Jerusalem and serves as an important healthcare center for the Arab population of the capital, the West Bank and, at times, the Gaza Strip. The hospital specializes primarily in oncology, chemotherapy and complex treatments, and is considered one of the few institutions in the region providing advanced cancer care to populations without full access to Israel’s healthcare system.
A brief walk through the hospital reveals plaques thanking major donors. Among them are the flags of the United Arab Emirates, the ‘State of Palestine’, as written on the sign, and Qatar. One plaque states that “this building was constructed through the generous donation of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar.”
On the Qatar Fund for Development’s website, the organization describes itself as “the State of Qatar’s international development provider, dedicated to promoting human development, reducing poverty, strengthening healthcare services and education systems, supporting economic development and mobilizing humanitarian assistance.”
In recent months, the names Qatar and Turkey have surfaced repeatedly in discussions about the day after the war in Gaza, after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly insisted on giving them a role, believing they could help extract understandings from Hamas regarding disarmament.
Israel has so far opposed the involvement of Turkish and Qatari actors in Gaza. In Jerusalem, however, the two states already appear to maintain a quiet presence.
Beyond Qatar, Turkey has been active in Jerusalem for years through official Turkish bodies. This activity ranges from the Turkish Consulate near St. Joseph’s Hospital, which Ankara views as its ‘embassy to Palestine’, to the openly operating Yunus Emre Cultural Center, and to more discreet activity by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, TIKA, which runs numerous projects in the city.
“This hospital belongs to the Vatican, and they are very careful about where the money comes from,” Koussa said. “We are the only hospital that treats Muslims, Christians and Jews. This renovation benefits all of Jerusalem, not only East Jerusalem. Our goal is to bring medicine to all people.”
He said this was not the first time the hospital had received a direct donation from Qatar, but insisted there was no political motive. “We are not involved in politics,” he said. “The Vatican will not allow politics to enter.”
‘A real danger of losing the hospital’
The donation has also raised concern within Jerusalem’s Christian community, where the main fear is the entry of Islamic actors into Christian institutions.
Yosef, a pseudonym, who worked at the hospital for three years and is a Greek Orthodox Christian, said funding for the hospital since 2007 has been routed through an Islamic bank to bypass Israel.
“As a Jerusalemite Christian, 11 generations in this city, I see this institution losing its essence,” he said. “In my eyes and in the eyes of Jerusalem’s Christians, this is a Qatari foothold. It is the selling of Christian institutions to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“Christians are not naive,” he added. “They know Qatar and Turkey finance the Muslim Brotherhood’s vision. Christians see a real danger of losing this hospital. There are only two Christian hospitals in East Jerusalem. The rest are Muslim institutions. This is seen as a serious case. What began as donations has grown into significant funding, and the institution is now almost fully under Qatari control.”
The Health Ministry said in a statement that hospitals in East Jerusalem, including St. Joseph’s Hospital, operate as independent institutions not owned by the state.
“Accordingly, donations received by them are managed by the hospital administration and do not require prior approval from the Health Ministry, as long as they comply with general legal provisions,” the ministry said. “The scope of assistance varies from year to year and is derived from approved government decisions and budgetary frameworks.”
‘Qatar is an enemy state’
On Monday, former prime minister and Knesset member Yair Lapid submitted a bill calling for Qatar to be designated an enemy state. The proposal states that “for years, the State of Qatar has acted contrary to Israel’s security and diplomatic interests, supporting and financing terrorist organizations fighting Israel.”
Ran Yishai, former director general of the Jerusalem Ministry and now head of research and policy at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy, said the donation to St. Joseph’s Hospital reflects a broader failure of Israeli governance in the city.
“The hospital’s activity allows a hostile state like Qatar to establish a foothold in Israel’s capital, in violation of the law, all under the auspices of the French Consulate, which operates in Jerusalem like a state within a state, without any intervention by Israeli authorities,” he said.
“Qatar is a hostile state that supports terrorism, especially Hamas,” Yishai added. “Israel must not allow Qatar to repeat the method it used in Gaza, where it supported civilian and humanitarian institutions such as hospitals, which ultimately became terrorist bases disguised as humanitarian facilities.”