On September 9, Israel struck a gated compound in Doha's Leqtaifiya district used by Hamas' political bureau. Even by Middle Eastern standards, this was an unprecedented move - an attack on a close US ally, which for years has had unofficial ties with Israel. Moreover, the attack came at a time when senior Hamas figures were weighing a US-backed ceasefire and hostage proposal.
The attack, which targeted Hamas leaders, killed six people, including a Qatari security officer. The others were a senior Hamas figure, Khalil al-Hayya, the director of his office and three bodyguards. According to Israeli media, the attack involved 15 fighter jets, which dropped 10 bombs, killing six people. However, it is now confirmed that Israel failed to fulfil its original intent of eliminating the Hamas leadership, which included, apart from al-Hayya, Khaled Mashaal and Zaher Jabarin.
The Upcoming Summit
The Qatari Prime MinisterSheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called the attack "cowardly" and said it amounted to an assault on his country's sovereignty. His government has suspended contacts with Israeli negotiators and is preparing to host an Arab-Islamic summit the coming weekend. Qatar also sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, denouncing the Israeli aggression in the strongest terms.
The US has also rebuked Israel about the strikes. After all, Qatar is a close US ally. Its Al Udeid airbase hosts the US Centcom. President Trump said the decision to bomb Qatar was "made by Prime Minister Netanyahu”. “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America's goals,” he said after the attack. The White House, in turn, claimed that Israeli jets launched the attack without coordinating with the US, and that only after the missiles were airborne did American officials realise what was happening. President Donald Trump ordered envoy Steve Witkoff to warn the Qataris, but by the time he made contact, the bombs had already struck. The Qataris, however, refute this version.
The Scathing UNSC Statement
In a rare move, the UN Security Council also issued a joint statement condemning the strike in Doha, though it didn't mention Israel by name. In another unprecedented move, all the Gulf countries closed rank behind Qatar, condemning Israel and expressing unequivocal support for Qatar and its sovereignty. The UAE ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), even travelled to Doha to meet Qatari Emir Al Thani. Along with Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have also strongly condemned Israel's airstrikes - these were the very Gulf sheikhdoms that in 2017 had severed ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade on it on allegations that the latter was abetting terrorism and supporting it in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Terrorism is also of course what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already under scrutiny for the famine unfolding in Gaza currently and for the widespread death and destruction there, used as the rationale to bomb Qatar. “Tomorrow is September 11. We remember September 11th. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery on American soil since the founding of the United States. We also have a September 11th. We remember October 7th. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery against the Jewish people since the Holocaust," Netanyahu said in a video message posted on X on Wednesday.
Israel's Case
Retired Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told the media that “Qatar chose to host a terror group on its soil, and that has consequences”. He argued that Doha cannot “hide behind” sovereignty claims, adding, “They were warned again and again that hosting Hamas was a mistake, and they ignored it.”
In fact, Qatar had been accused by many as being both "arsonist” and “fire-fighter". It first supported and helped prop up Hamas, enabling it to commit acts of terror, including the atrocities of October 7, 2023, and then donned the mantle of negotiator and peace-maker.
A Terrorist History
Indeed, Hamas isn't the only terror group that Qatar has actively supported. It had supported and given legitimacy to the Taliban too, when the UN had proscribed it as a terror group and it was waging an insurgency against the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Ultimately, Qkatar played mediator, brokering the talks between the Taliban and the US under the first Trump administration in 2020.
In order to understand this dichotomy in Qatar's approach, it is important to understand that the tiny but gas-rich sheikhdom had poised itself as a global power aiming to play the role that countries like Austria and Norway have played in international affairs. Article 7 of Qatar's Constitution stipulates mediation as a key foreign policy priority: “based on the principle of encouraging peaceful resolution of international disputes.” In 2023, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs established new Ministerial roles, giving greater diplomatic weight to mediation files and augmenting a team of Special Envoys and other Ministerial and High Level Officials on Mediation.
Costs Of Being A Mediator
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar says that "the goal of Qatar's mediation is to promote and achieve conflict management, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes … Qatar's mediation occurs at inter-state level, as well as between state and a variety of non-state actors … Qatar promotes mediation of both Track I and Track 2 peace-making and conflict resolution. For this reason, Qatar is supportive of inclusive dialogue processes that give space to some non-state actors or otherwise marginalised groups such as women, refugees, IDPs, and other minorities."
In this spirit, Qatar has hosted groups like the Taliban, Hamas, varied Syrian opposition groups during the Syrian civil war, and supported assorted radical groups and individuals, including the Al Nusra Front headed by the person who has become Syria's current ruler. Its soft power representative, Al Jazeera, has often been accused of interfering in internal affairs of sovereign states, inflamming opinion, even while reportage about Qatar remains heavily censored. Even the Indian government has from time to time taken umbrage at Al Jazeera's coverage of Indian affairs, especially on Kashmir.
A Puzzling Strike
Nevertheless, the attacks on Qatar are puzzling. Not least because Qatar propped up the Hamas government in Gaza, prior to the October 2023 attacks, in coordination with Israel. But because in the wake of the attacks, when many Israelis were pointing the finger at Qatar, the Netanyahu government was alleged to have mounted a PR campaign, funded by Qatar, to portray Qatar in a positive light in Israel - something that came to be known as the Qatar-gate scandal.
The immediate trigger for the strikes may be the Hamas terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday, which killed six people and injured 12 more. Netanyahu has asked Qatar to expel the Hamas Chief, warning if Qatar did not, then Israel would do it. Many believe that the strikes should have come earlier; there are still 48 Israelis held captive by Hamas in Gaza. The strikes could also be a repeat of Israel's time-tested policy of carrying out assassinations during negotiations, which have almost always failed to scuttle negotiations There is enormous anger at the government inside Israel for its failure to bring back all hostages in spite of the devastating war it has been waging on Gaza over the last two years. On the other hand, internationally, Israel has come under unprecedented condemnation, with the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has divested from a number of Israeli companies over the Gaza war, Germany has suspended arms exports to Israel for use in Gaza, and Spain has announced an arms embargo on Israel and has recalled its ambassador.
The More Things Change...
Yet, would anything change fundamentally on the ground? Reading the coffee cup in the Middle East has always been a loved pastime. If one were to read it now, it might reveal that soon enough, things would go back to as they were before the strikes on Qatar happened. For one, Doha has signalled - as has Hamas - that they would not allow Israeli actions to disrupt negotiations. Speculation that the strikes would negatively impact Qatar's relations with the US have also been put to rest. Recently, Qatar's International Media Office even issued a statement that said that "the Qatar-US security and defence partnership is stronger than ever and continues to grow", dismissing claims made to media outlets earlier that Qatar is re-evaluating its security partnership with the United States as "categorically false". And even the Arab-Islamic summit called to shape a response to the attacks is scheduled for coming Sunday-Monday - possibly an indication that there is no intent beyond issuing sharp statements of condemnation of Israeli actions and expressions of Arab solidarity with Qatar.
(The author is a journalist and political analyst)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
