Both Qatar and Egypt have played critical roles as intermediaries in the still-ongoing hostage negotiations. On Saturday, when Hamas appeared close to reneging on its commitments, President Biden personally called the Qatari monarch and his prime minister to make sure that the releases continued. While Doha’s official statements claims that its goals are “to reduce tension, prevent escalation, protect civilian lives, respect international humanitarian law, and increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza,” they are in fact much more sinister, as Seth Mandel writes:
Qatar is involved in the negotiations because it is Hamas’s bank and crisis-PR firm on retainer. It hosts Hamas leaders and gives the terrorists hundreds of millions of dollars a year. It is the “largest foreign donor to American universities,” which you may have noticed are pushing a distinctly rancid mix of Soviet and Hamas propaganda and passing it off as an academic discipline of “decolonization” studies, all while these campuses erupt with sometimes-violent rallies in support of Hamas. Qatar is also the disseminator of a hugely popular television station devoted entirely to the wishes of dictators and thugs.
Meanwhile, Qatar hosts a large U.S. air base (and the protection that offers). Its “major non-NATO ally” designation will only increase its military ties with the U.S. It is also a nontrivial trading partner.
Yet when we need the deals to get around a pothole, the Egyptians are still the next-door neighbors who will be personally participating in any relocation and thus have skin in the game. And when the Red Cross wanted to get word about hostages, it went to Iran. The Thai government did the same. Qatar will be allowed to continue its double game so long as the White House believes its usefulness offsets the damage it does to Western interests. Whether that is still the case gets murkier by the day, and the Biden administration should tell the Qataris as much.
Read more on Commentary: https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/dont-let-qatar-off-the-hook/