Qatar Must Apologize for Supporting Islamist Terrorist Groups

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly “apologized” to his Qatari counterpart for violating the Gulf state’s sovereignty in Israel’s September 9 strike against Hamas leaders in Doha. The alleged apology took place in a September 29 phone call arranged by US President Donald J. Trump.

If anyone needs to apologize, it is Qatar, which has long been financing, hosting, and advocating for Hamas and other Islamist terror groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda.

Qatar, in fact, needs to apologize not only to Israel, but to several Arab countries affected by the Gulf state’s support for Islamist terror groups.

US Representative Doug Lamborn wrote in 2015:

"The past few years have seen Qatar grow into a major hub for terrorist operatives and terrorism finance.... Qatar is now known as the world's safe haven for terrorist groups and militia leaders.... Evidence suggests that Qatar has directly armed or financed multiple Islamist groups in the region, undermining U.S. objectives in pivotal countries such as Libya, Egypt, and Syria by pushing those places toward violent extremism."

Two years later, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Egypt, and Yemen, severed their bilateral relations with Qatar and subsequently banned Qatari-registered aircraft and ships from utilizing their sovereign territory by air, land and sea. They accused Qatar of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders. They also called on Qatar to sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Jabhat Fateh al Sham.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported in June 2017:

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Saudi Arabia accused Doha of sheltering and backing terrorist groups, promoting terrorist groups in the media, and supporting Houthi militia in Yemen.

The Saudi authorities on Monday closed the local office of Doha-based satellite news network Al Jazeera amid a severe diplomatic row between Qatar and several other Arab states.

"The Ministry of Culture and Information has closed the Al Jazeera channel's office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and withdrew its [broadcasting] license," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The SPA said the decision had been taken after the network allegedly "promoted plots of terrorist groups, supported the Houthi militias in Yemen and tried to break Saudi internal ranks by inciting them to leave the country and harm the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".

Cairo also blamed the Qatari government for "hostile attitudes," sheltering the Muslim Brotherhood on its soil, and backing terror groups threatening the country's national security.

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry accused the Qatari government of destabilizing the country's security and stability and interfering in its affairs.

Qatar has "spread chaos in Bahrain in flagrant violation of all agreements and covenants and principles of international law without regard to values, the law, or morals or consideration of the principles of good neighborliness or commitment to the constants of Gulf relations, and in denial of all previous commitments," it said.

The UAE said the decision to cut ties with Qatar came “as a result of the failure of the Qatari authorities” to stop funding “terrorist organizations… especially the Muslim Brotherhood.” The UAE also accused Qatar of “harboring extremists.”

UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that a Western monitoring mechanism will be needed to force Qatar to abide by any agreement to end its support for terrorism. “We do not trust them (Qatar),” Gargash said. “There is zero trust, but we need a monitoring system, and we need our western friends to play a role in this.” He added that the monitoring would aim to ensure Qatar was no longer funding extremism, harboring extremists in Doha, or providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al-Qaeda.

In an interview with Reuters, the UAE minister said that financial support for jihadists across the Middle East lies at the heart of Arab powers’ row with Qatar:

"This litany of subversive support, infringement, actions is huge, but I would say the most serious is the extremists and terrorist angle. I think this is the most serious of all the other catalogues of other infringements.... We want a black-and-white approach to terrorist financing. We know the ABCs of dealing with terrorism. One of these ABCs is: you never feed the crocodiles."

Gargash said the UAE wanted to see action taken against individuals living openly in Qatar despite being classified as supporters of terrorism by the US and United Nations. He identified three men who were suspected of providing funds and other support to al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, and who the US Treasury Department says have financed terrorism. Gargash said the scope of Qatar’s sheltering of extremists has widened since 2014, when concern was largely focused on the late Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Also in 2017, the UAE announced that Qatar sympathizers could face a prison term of up to 15 years and be slapped with a fine of not less than half a million dirhams ($136,000).

In a statement, UAE Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said that the UAE has taken a firm stance against Qatar’s hostile and irresponsible policies:

"Strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows sympathy or any form of bias towards Qatar, or against anyone who objects to the position of the United Arab Emirates, whether it be through the means of social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form."

Although the Arab countries three years later signed an agreement brokered by the US and Kuwait to restore full diplomatic ties with Qatar, the emirate has continued to provide shelter to Hamas leaders and its Al-Jazeera network as a mouthpiece for the Palestinian terror group and other Islamist terrorist organizations.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported last month:

"Since Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and throughout the war that broke out in its aftermath, the state of Qatar, its media, and institutions affiliated with it have consistently expressed unreserved support for Hamas and for terror and armed violence against Israel. This support finds expression on all levels: in statements by officials and religious clerics, in the medias and in the education system, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the Qatari emir and the chair of the Qatar Foundation, implied that Israel had fabricated reports about Hamas's atrocities, and accused Israel of spreading false historical narratives that 'have taken over the collective mind f the world.' After the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacre, Sheikha Moza eulogized him, saying that 'he will live on' while Israel will perish.' Qatari Shura Council member Essa Al-Nassr said that October 7 was the beginning of the end of the Zionist state, presenting this as a divine promise mentioned in the Quran. He added that there can be no peace with the Jews because their faith condones 'deception, the violation of agreements and lies' and they are 'slayers of the prophets.'"

Qatar is not – and never was – an impartial mediator in the Hamas-Israel war. As a longtime sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist terrorist groups, Qatar’s main goal is to ensure that Hamas, possibly under a different guise, continues to play a key role in the Palestinian arena.

People who contend that Qatar might “change,” thanks to the potential incentives of the Abraham Accords, appear afflicted with the same illusions as those who fantasize that the Palestinian Authority will reform. Sadly, the self-interested statements by French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have encouraged the terrorists and their sponsors to have renewed hope that they finally might be able to get rid of Israel, after all.

If Qatar really wanted to end the Gaza war, it could have done so long ago. Qatar could have issued an ultimatum to the Hamas leaders in Doha to release all the Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, disarm, and then cede political and military control of the Gaza Strip. There is no way that Hamas leaders based in Doha could have said no to their Qatari patrons and protectors. A threat by Qatar to deport the Hamas leaders or freeze their bank accounts would have forced them to release the hostages and end the war. Instead, Qatar has chosen to continue harboring and protecting the terrorist leaders who have brought death and destruction on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

In its perennial role as both the “arsonist and the firefighter,” as with the Taliban in Afghanistan, there is every reason to assume — unless someone emphatically stops them — that Qatar will set about surreptitiously creating a “Hamas, the Sequel” the minute the weather improves.