Probably true to an extent (not that they created it - the origins of Hamas are documented well enough - but that they put their fingers on the scale at various times), but it is the easiest fucking cop-out for smug liberals to pretend they’re being objective and critical of Israel, while endorsing the core “objective” of Israel’s campaign of extermination. Israel is only bad insofar as Netanyahu is bad, and Netanyahu is only bad insofar as Hamas is bad, and the root of the problem remains that Hamas is bad, and not that Israel is a genocidal apartheid state. This is the fundamental logic underlying this rhetoric. It leads you to the exact same fucking place as the Hasbara reply guys on Twitter who will respond to the gruesome assassination of surgeons and aid workers by ‘lamenting’ about what Hamas has made this necessary.

Israeli intelligence obviously preferred to have an opponent they could portray as fanatics (pot, meet kettle) over secular liberals or a workers party. Their goal is not a compromise, but Libensraum. You say something like Palestinian Islamic Jihad and all the fucking wine mom/ipa dad liberals will shit their pants and withhold support because the victims of oppression are not resisting their oppression correctly. It is good for Hasbara purposes, and funds like this buy influence and blackmail capabilities. It is standard operating procedure for intelligence agencies like this.