In the Media

I don’t recall similar condemnations when the US, rightly, sent its forces into Pakistan after Osama bin Laden, or killed various ISIS leaders. In fact, killing terrorist leaders is generally regarded as justified, especially when they are still actively plotting attacks.

Yet when Israel conducts a very precisely targeted bombing raid on Hamas leaders, who bear responsibility for the October 7 atrocities together with hundreds of other terrorist outrages against Israeli civilians, including the September 8 attack on buses in Jerusalem which killed six innocents, that’s apparently unacceptable.

Israel is accused of acting illegally, but given the Hamas leaders were still directing attacks against Israel, and Qatar was permitting this, Israel’s action was a legitimate exercise of its right to self-defence.

The Israeli attack is also being described as a blow to hopes of a Gaza ceasefire, but perhaps the opposite is true, as Israel argues.

Not only have these Hamas leaders planned and facilitated mass murder with impunity from their luxurious Qatar hideaways, they have also prolonged Gaza’s misery by refusing various ceasefire deals that Israel accepted. Clearly these Hamas leaders are more than happy to keep sacrificing their people in Gaza in return for PR victories, as long as they are safe in Qatar. Perhaps that will now change.

After all, Hamas’ leaders in Doha haven’t just hidden and schemed, they have prospered off terrorism and Palestinian misery, accumulating vast personal wealth. Former Hamas chairman Khaled Mashaal is said to be worth US$5 billion alone.

Just as no one should be leaping to the defence of the Hamas leaders, no-one should be outraged on Qatar’s behalf. Qatar has long played a pernicious role in undermining and destabilising not just Israel, but also the entire region, and the West.

As well as sheltering Hamas leaders, Qatar has also been the terror group’s leading funder. It was well-known to be providing large monthly payments to Hamas to assist it in running Gaza, with Israel allowing this in the mistaken hope that doing so would maintain peace. However, it has subsequently emerged that Qatar was also using other pathways to fund Hamas’ military activities, which assisted with the October 7 attacks.

Qatar has been lauded for its role in the negotiations to end the Gaza war, but there have also been reports it was encouraging Hamas to reject deals, assuring the terrorists they could do better. It certainly has not used the leverage it has to press Hamas to accept.

Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the forerunner of the many Sunni Islamist jihadist groups that bedevil the world today. It spreads virulently anti-Western, anti-Semitic ideology, calling for the murder of the Jewish people. Qatar is a leading state-proponent and evangeliser of this ideology.

Up to his death in 2022, the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, given safe haven in Qatar after having been banned from multiple countries, was said to be the Qatari Emir’s spiritual adviser.

A number of Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt ostracised Qatar from 2017 to 2021, citing Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and various other terrorist groups, and promoting their ideology, including through its well-known state-owned media network Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera may seem reasonably moderate, at least by Middle Eastern standards, in its English language broadcasts, but its programs in Arabic are a totally different matter. It is a virtual mouthpiece for Hamas, repeating Hamas claims as facts, openly barracking for Hamas’ military success, and inciting hatred of Israel throughout the Middle East.

Hamas gave it a media award in 2021, saying the network’s employees “demonstrated their belonging to the cause of the oppressed Palestinian people.” Some of its journalists have even been discovered to be officers in the Hamas military.

Qatar’s malign activities extend beyond the Middle East. Investigations by the Institute of the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) have found that Qatar has been funnelling billions of dollars of undeclared donations into select universities over many years, with a result being the radicalisation and antisemitism that have emerged on North American campuses.

Organisations responsible for the disruptive, antisemitic activism on these campuses have been funded by groups connected to Qatar. It would be interesting to see if an investigation into some Australian universities would yield similar results.

The condemnation of Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar is yet another example of the appalling double standards to which Israel is routinely subjected.

The international community should instead be pressuring Qatar to end its support for Hamas and other pernicious activities. Had Qatar threatened to expel Hamas if it continued to refuse to release the Israeli hostages it holds and agree to surrender power in Gaza, for example, the war might well be over by now.

Jamie Hyams is director of public affairs at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC)