Qatar, ‘Leading Sponsor of Terrorism in the World, More than Iran,’ Is Not an Impartial Mediator

Bassam Tawil

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The idea that Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas is nothing short of laughable. Qatar has actually long been staunchly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, of which Hamas is an offshoot. Pictured: Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal meets with Qatar’s then Crown Prince (today’s Emir) Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan on January 29, 2012. (Photo by Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)

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• The idea that Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas is nothing short of laughable. Qatar has actually long been staunchly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, of which Hamas is an offshoot.
• The Muslim Brotherhood — according to a hearing at the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security on July 11, 2018 — is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US.
• “”Qatar has huge influence over the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas…. For too long, Doha has danced between its Islamist allies and its Western and Arab partners.” — Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, The Atlantic, October 20, 2023
• Qatar has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its radical terrorist offshoots…. Qatar has also provided political and financial support to Hamas. In 2008, Doha reportedly pledged $250 million to Hamas, one year after the terror group violently seized control of the Gaza Strip. In 2012, Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani became the first head of state to visit Gaza, pledging $400 million to Hamas. Since then, the Qatari government has continued to send money to Hamas.
• Qatar’s goal is to keep Hamas in power. Qatar has no reason to care if thousands of Palestinians die in the Gaza Strip, so long as Hamas is permitted to continue ruling the coastal enclave.

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Recently, the rulers of Qatar demonstrated that they not only serve as gracious hosts to the leaders of the Palestinian Hamas terror group, but that they also have a sense of humor.

The Gulf state’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani announced during a press conference in Doha that his country is reassessing its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas after facing criticism.

“Qatar is in the process of a complete re-evaluation of its role,” al-Thani said. “There is exploitation and abuse of the Qatari role,” he said, adding that Qatar had been the victim of “point-scoring” by “politicians who are trying to conduct election campaigns by slighting the State of Qatar.”

Earlier, al-Thani said negotiations to secure the release of more than 130 remaining Israeli hostages, abducted by Hamas to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, had stalled.

“We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this stalling,” the Qatari premier said.

Oh really.

The idea that Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas is nothing short of laughable. Qatar has actually long been staunchly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s motto is: “Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

The Muslim Brotherhood — according to a hearing at the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security on July 11, 2018 — is a militant Islamist organization with affiliates in over 70 countries, including groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US.

After the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi was elected president of Egypt in 2012, 22 million Egyptians could not wait to get rid of him. In a year and a few days, he was gone.

“Qatar has huge influence over the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“Qatar’s dalliance with Islamist groups has long been the primary means for Doha to project influence in the Arab world, particularly through state support for Al-Jazeera Arabic. For too long, Doha has danced between its Islamist allies and its Western and Arab partners.”

Qatar has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its radical terrorist offshoots. During the Brotherhood’s year in power in Egypt, Qatar loaned Morsi’s regime approximately $7.5 billion. Qatar also reportedly aided Morsi’s regime with grants and “energy supplies.” During Morsi’s presidency, “payments ranging from $250,000 to $850,000 to top Morsi associates from the former Prime Minister of Qatar,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.

Qatar has also provided political and financial support to Hamas. In 2008, Doha reportedly pledged $250 million to Hamas, one year after the terror group violently seized control of the Gaza Strip. In 2012, Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani became the first head of state to visit Gaza, pledging $400 million to Hamas. Since then, the Qatari government has continued to send money to Hamas. In July 2016, Qatar announced a payment of $30 million to Hamas-hired workers in Gaza.

Qatar, in addition, has long hosted Hamas leaders and allowed the terrorist group to set up an office in Doha. Khaled Mashaal — the former leader of Hamas, whose wealth is estimated above $5 billion “while more than half of his own citizens in Gaza live under the poverty line” — has held press conferences on behalf of the terrorist group at internationally owned businesses in Qatar, including at the Four Seasons Hotel and the Sheraton Doha (owned by Marriott). Mashaal has previously resided “in the most luxurious hotel in the most beautiful district [in Qatar],” according to one Egyptian television host. Mashaal is also reported to own four towers and a commercial center on a seven-acre plot in Qatar, developed by a domestic real estate agency. Qatar has repeatedly denied rumors that Mashaal was evicted from Qatar, and in 2015 called him a “dear guest of Qatar.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has been militant from its very beginning. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, who founded the group in 1928, said that “Jihad (holy war) is an obligation from Allah and every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded.” In a book titled The Way of Jihad, he wrote:

“Jihad means the fighting of the unbelievers and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam, including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols.”

In 2005, a former Kuwaiti minister of information, Dr. Ahmad al-Rabi’, wrote in the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper:

“The beginnings of all the religious terrorism that we are witnessing today were in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology…all those who worked with bin Laden and al-Qaeda went out under the mandate of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

This jihadist ideology continues to fuel the Muslim Brotherhood today. The Brotherhood mourned the death of Osama bin Laden, and its leaders developed teachings justifying revolutionary violence under sharia law. The Brotherhood has preached hatred towards Jews, denied the Holocaust, and called for Israel’s destruction. The Brotherhood incited violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt amidst a wave of church bombings and other attacks by terrorist groups, including ISIS.

One of the leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood was Haj Amin al-Husseini, known to many as the father of Arab terrorism, who was Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from 1921-1937. According to Middle East expert Tony Duheaume:

“Through his leadership of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Husseini’s infamous exploits aided in the creation of one that blended Muslim beliefs with all of the vile ideologies created by the Nazis, spawning many groups that followed the same cause.

“With al-Husseini having lived in Palestine during the start of the First World War, he had sworn his allegiance to the Ottoman Empire, and had become an officer in the Ottoman Turkish army.

“It was during this time, he had found himself assigned to the Forty-Seventh Brigade, which was stationed in the city of Smyrma, and whilst serving there, he had become a willing participant in the Armenian genocide, during which one-and-a-half million Christians were reportedly slaughtered by Turkish troops.

“This event had twisted al-Husseini’s mindset, turning him into a leading advocate of creating an Islamic Caliphate, which was envisaged by all of his followers, and which they believed could only come about through the annihilation of all Jews and Christians living in the Middle East.”

For many years, Qatar hosted Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the spiritual leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was famous for shaping the concept of violet jihad and who promoted terrorism, including suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians, US forces in Iraq, and some of the Arab regimes. “I supported martyrdom operations, and I am not the only one,” al-Qaradawi told the BBC in 2004. Because of that, he was banned from entering Western countries and some Arab states.

Al-Qaradawi also issued fatwas authorizing attacks on all Jews. On Al Jazeera Arabic in January 2009, he said:

“Oh God, take Your enemies, the enemies of Islam… Oh God, take the treacherous Jewish aggressors… Oh God, count their numbers, slay them one by one and spare none.”

Qatar’s close relations with Hamas should clearly disqualify it from brokering the release of the Israeli hostages. It is said, “Qatar is Hamas and Hamas is Qatar.”

Qatar’s threat to quit the role of mediator is unfortunately nothing but a sick joke. Qatar has always been on the side of Hamas, whose other billionaire leaders continue to enjoy a comfortable life far from Gaza in foreign villas and five-star hotels.

If the Qataris had wanted to end the war in the Gaza Strip, they could have summoned the leaders of Hamas and issued an ultimatum to them to release the hostages or face deportation from the country. The Qataris are not doing so because they do not seem to be facing any pressure from the US administration. If the US administration really wanted to exert pressure on Qatar, it could threaten to withdraw fro Al-Udeid Air Base, located in the desert southwest of Doha. Al-Udeid is the biggest US military installation in the Middle East and is the main reason why Qatar enjoys security and stability.

Qatar’s goal is to keep Hamas in power. Qatar has no reason to care if thousands of Palestinians die in the Gaza Strip, so long as Hamas is permitted to continue ruling the coastal enclave.

“Qatar is the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world, more than Iran,” said Dr. Udi Levy, a former senior official of Israel’s Mossad spy agency who dealt with economic warfare against terrorist organizations. Commenting on the double game of the Qataris, who fund Hamas and at the same time pretend they are assisting in a hostage deal, Levy said:

“Qatar has been playing a dual role since the beginning of the Gaza war. On the one hand, it is a well-known supporter of Hamas, and even finances it with a lot of money, and on the other hand, it is trying to help in the deal for the release of the Israeli hostages. So what is the real face of the Qataris? The Qataris are the No. 1 country in the world that finances terrorism, more than Iran.”

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Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.

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