For decades, Qatar has held itself out as a U.S. ally while simultaneously acting as a patron of Hamas, a U.S. government-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Qatar housed Hamas’s leadership, financed its operations, and used the Al Jazeera network, the mouthpiece of the Qatari government, to spin Hamas’s terrorism as “resistance” or a “struggle for freedom.” Qatar’s doublespeak and double-dealing have finally come to an end.
Predictably, Arab media and official statements rushed to frame Qatar as a “victim” of Israeli aggression. Talking heads lamented: how could Israel dare to strike inside the borders of Qatar, which had been “helping” to secure the release of Israeli hostages? The irony is unbearable. Just one day before the strike, Al Jazeera celebrated a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on civilians waiting at a bus stop. Hamas leaders in Doha praised the terrorist attack, claimed responsibility, and called for more carnage. When Hamas terrorists in Gaza carried out the horrific October 7 attack on Israel, Al Jazeera broadcast Hamas leaders in Doha celebrating and praying as a group while images of Hamas terrorists rampaging and massacring Israeli civilians played on a nearby television.
Qatar should not be surprised that the terrorists it hosted on its soil brought Israeli fire within its borders. A sovereign state cannot be a patron to a terrorist organization while expecting immunity from the consequences. Because Qatar enabled Hamas to attack the sovereign state of Israel, it was inevitable that Israel would respond.
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