The Qatari government has expressed annoyance over the recent remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was allegedly caught on tape calling the emirate’s role as mediator in the Gaza war problematic. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu purportedly said that Qataris finance Hamas and they have the means to put pressure on them. Yahu also criticized Washington’s decision to renew its military basing agreement with Qatar. A Qatari spokesman termed these remarks as irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives. According to the Qatari Spokesman, Qatar is still involved in talks aimed at securing a new hostage deal, and Netanyahu’s remarks were detrimental to those efforts.
The State of Qatar has always upheld its long-held partnership with Western nations including the United States, the UK, France, and multiple other states while keeping an arm’s distance from its GCC allies and other Muslim countries in the world. Over the past decades, US Central Command has positioned its regional command post in Doha, while American fighters roam in Qatari airspace and US Navy ships sail in territorial waters in the Middle East and the Gulf of Oman. Doha has played a vital role in shaping global politics and maintaining regional as well as global peace in the past. Ranging from hosting Taliban political office to conceiving a historic Doha agreement between the US and Taliban, making possible US-Iran prisoners swap deal to the recent release of Israeli captives and a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, are a few glimpses of Qatar’s tactful and kinetic diplomacy over the past decades.
The Haredi-Judaism and the extraordinary response of the Netanyahu regime on the October 7 attacks coupled with the persistent refusal to a ceasefire has attracted across-the-spectrum criticism from the global community including friends and foes. Qatar, Egypt, and the United States played vital roles in achieving the release of over a hundred Israeli captives, while shuttle diplomacy and backdoor contacts are currently underway to realize a truce and restore lasting peace in the region. Netanyahu looks at other states and individuals with the pure orthodox Judoist lens and demands Sar-El service for Israel. In fact, Qatar has played the role of a broker between Muslims and Judaism, which encourages Tel Aviv’s Doha criticism otherwise the entire world has acknowledged the services of Qatari rulers during the months-long conflict in the Middle East.
