Paula Hancocks
Qatar would have been forgiven for thinking it was immune from Israeli attack.
The tiny Gulf state is a key US ally that welcomed President Donald Trump just four months ago; red carpets were laid, billion-dollar deals were done and a controversial presidential aircraft bequeathed.
As for its role as mediator to end the war in Gaza, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani personally met with Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya on Monday to push for the new US-led ceasefire and hostage deal. Hamas’ response was expected at a follow-up meeting Tuesday evening; a couple of hours before that answer, Israeli jets struck a residential building in Doha, killing five Hamas members and a Qatari security official.
The sense of shock and betrayal is palpable in the Qatari capital. The vocabulary being used by Qatar’s prime minister is strong, evocative and damning, a departure from his usual composed response to the incessant twists and turns of trying to end the 23-month war in Gaza.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson Wednesday, he described the attack as “state terror” and warned the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “killed any hope” for the hostages and undermined “any chance of peace.” He also said the Israeli leader must be “brought to justice,” accusing him of breaking “every international law.”
A country with no diplomatic ties to Israel invited its delegations to come and negotiate indirectly with Hamas; an endeavor appreciated by President Trump, who spoke of Doha “bravely taking risks with us to broker peace.”
Qatar is also considered to have taken a hit on America’s behalf when Iran struck the Al Udeid military base in June of this year, the largest US military facility in the region. Tehran said it was in response to US strikes on its nuclear facilities. Doha issued strong condemnation but little more.
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