{"id":117109,"date":"2024-11-18T17:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117109"},"modified":"2024-11-18T09:35:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T07:35:29","slug":"18-00-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117109","title":{"rendered":"Under US Pressure to Expel Hamas, Qatar Keeps Double-Dealing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Under US Pressure to Expel Hamas, Qatar Keeps Double-Dealing<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Yaakov Lappin \/ JNS.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin\/Pool via REUTERS<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The United States is pressuring Qatar to expel Hamas leaders from its territory due to the terrorist organization\u2019s refusal to consider even a short ceasefire and new suggestions for a hostage release deal with Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to international media reports, Qatar is under American comply with an ultimatum to expel the senior Palestinian terrorists.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Qatar has confirmed that it is stalling its mediation efforts in the indirect hostages-for-terrorists exchange talks between Israel and Hamas, it has not confirmed that it is ousting Hamas members.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, \u201cThis is pressure from Senate Republicans, amplified by Trump\u2019s electoral victory. The Biden team appears to be trying to take credit for something that was spurred by others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe regime in Doha is trying to simultaneously confirm and deny the news. This is consistent with Qatar\u2019s double-dealing. The goal right now should be to squeeze the regime to jettison Hamas,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it is \u201cunclear how Trump\u2019s arrival will change any of this,\u201d Schanzer assessed, the fear of a shift in American policy \u201cis undeniably pushing Doha to make these moves and announcements.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u201cthe Qataris are going to continue to buy up assets in the United States, regardless of who is president. This is their way of gaining leverage over our leaders in politics and business,\u201d said Schanzer. \u201cI believe that the next administration needs to conduct a careful and thorough review of these sovereign investments. The amount of money that Qatar has invested in this country is staggering. But it has not yet been made clear why it has invested so much\u2014especially in sectors like education that do not yield a financial return.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Biden administration\u2019s \u2018last card\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brandon Friedman, director of research at Tel Aviv University\u2019s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told JNS that US pressure on Qatar is the Biden administration\u2019s \u201clast card to play. How effective it will be depends on how Hamas\u2014and Qatar\u2014perceive the Trump administration. My guess is that the Qataris suspect the Trump administration will ask them to expel Hamas, so there is no harm in playing this card now and preemptively dealing with a potential source of tension with the new administration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Friedman, \u201cThe Qataris use their relations with various Islamist and jihadi groups as foreign policy tools to advance and protect their interests. Even if they expel Hamas, they will continue to host factions of the Muslim Brotherhood and let Al Jazeera be used to promote the Brotherhood\u2019s ideology. It is also unclear whether the US asked Qatar to end its role as financial backer and conduit for Hamas\u2019s extensive regional network of businesses and charities, which funded its terror infrastructure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(Hamas began as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Qatar, Friedman said, \u201cwas traumatized by the Saudi-led June 2017 blockade that lasted until the end of the Trump presidency. The blockade was imposed shortly after Trump\u2019s visit to the Saudi kingdom. The Qataris are likely to make every effort to earn the good favor of the Trump administration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked to address the American military\u2019s ongoing use of Qatar\u2019s Al Udeid Airbase, which Doha spent a very large some of money to build and develop, Freidman said, \u201cI don\u2019t view the US as dependent on Al Udeid. I see it as a source of leverage for the US in dealing with Qatar. It is a symbol of US protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the US withdrew from Al Udeid, Qatar would feel unprotected. In fact, one might argue it is not a coincidence that the US quietly renewed its lease of Al Udeid for another 10 years after the Qataris brokered the November [2023] deal for the hostages. It was almost as if it was a reward for good behavior or a service provided.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing Doha\u2019s global investments, Friedman said that \u201cQatar can use its immense wealth to purchase US arms, which would likely be viewed favorably by Trump. It can also invest its energy wealth in the US economy, which is one of the ways Saudi Arabia won favor with the first Trump administration. It is worth noting that Qatar has been substantially increasing its activities in both of these areas\u2014US weapons purchases [$1 billion in 2022] and investments in the US economy over the past five to 10 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018No longer serves its purpose\u2019<\/strong><\/h5>\n

On Nov. 9,\u00a0Reuters<\/em>\u00a0reported that Qatar is stalling its Gaza ceasefire mediation. Doha informed Hamas and Israel it will \u201cstall its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show \u2018willingness and seriousness\u2019 to resume talks,\u201d the news agency stated on Saturday, citing the Qatari Foreign Ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gulf country has been working alongside the United States and Egypt for months on fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza,\u201d said the report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Qatari ministry also said press reports on the future of the Hamas political office in Doha were inaccurate without specifying how,\u201d it added. On Friday,\u00a0Reuters\u00a0<\/em>cited a US official as confirming that Washington asked Doha to expel Hamas, and that the Qataris had \u201cpassed this message on to Hamas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reuters<\/em>\u00a0also cited an unnamed official briefed on the matter as stating on Saturday that \u201cQatar had concluded that with its mediation efforts paused, Hamas\u2019 political office there \u2018no longer serves its purpose.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hamas has denied being told to leave the Gulf state, which has hosted it since 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Under US Pressure to Expel Hamas, Qatar Keeps Double-Dealing Yaakov Lappin \/ JNS.org Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin\/Pool via REUTERS The United States is pressuring Qatar to expel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117109"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117136,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117109\/revisions\/117136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}