On Tuesday, September 9, Israel conducted airstrikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, intensifying its military actions in the Middle East. This act drew widespread condemnation from the UAE, other Gulf countries, and the European Union.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will.” He also accused Qatar of providing safe haven and financing to Hamas, according to Reuters.
Qatar’s foreign ministry has condemned what it described as Netanyahu’s “explicit threats of future violations of state sovereignty.”
“Netanyahu is fully aware that the hosting of the Hamas office took place within the framework of Qatar’s mediation efforts requested by the United States and Israel,” the ministry added. This statement was echoed by Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani as he spoke to CNN about the strikes.
He stated that everyone knew about the Hamas office and that the US and Israel had asked for its establishment, using it as a communication channel with Hamas about Gaza “for years.”
“There is a very minimum level of manners and ethics,” he said in his interview. “This has crossed it.”
He expressed disbelief, stating, “Honestly, I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action.”
“This is state terror,” he said. When asked if Qatar felt betrayed, he confirmed.
The Qatar PM shook his head as he told the interviewer that on the morning of the attacks, he had met one of the hostages’ families. He conveyed their message that their only hope of getting their family member back home was through the mediation that Qatar was performing.
“I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages,” he said.
When asked about Netanyahu’s threat to bring Hamas and Qatar to justice, whom he accused of harboring terrorists, the Qatar PM replied that the Gulf country does not accept “such a threat coming from someone like Netanyahu.”
“He needs to be brought to justice. He’s the one who’s wanted by the ICC.” He highlighted the irony that Netanyahu has broken “every international law” and thus does not have the right to “lecture the world about the law.”
When asked whether he thought Netanyahu was a narcissist, the Qatar PM replied that it was the only explanation he could think of for the Israeli PM’s actions. He continued that “no human mind can just absorb” the act of striking Hamas leaders who had arrived for mediation talks.
“You know, we were thinking that we are dealing with civilized people,” he said. “That’s the way we are dealing with others. And the action that he took, it’s very like… I cannot describe it, but it’s a barbaric action.”
