Doha Qatar

2024-05-06

Walid Omary, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau chief, confirmed in a conversation with The Media Line that Israeli police arrived Sunday at a hotel where the network’s would have broadcasted from and confiscated broadcast equipment, closing off access to the room. “This is a very big mistake,” said Omary. “There are no security reasons; there are internal political reasons for this within Israel. Israel can no longer say it shares Western values and respects those values of democracy, liberalism, human rights, freedom of press and expression.” Israel’s government ordered the local offices of satellite news network to close on Sunday, bringing a long-standing dispute between the two to a climax. For years, Israel has voiced its dissatisfaction with the Qatari network, blaming it for incitement. Since the eruption of the war between Hamas and Israel this past October, the Israeli government has repeatedly threatened to shut down the network’s operations in the country. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved the decision. “Al Jazeera correspondents have harmed the security of Israel and incited against IDF soldiers. The time has come to eject Hamas's mouthpiece from our country,” said Israeli after the decision had been made. A man walks near an Al Jazeera building in Doha, Qatar, May 5, 2024. (credit: Reuters/Arafat Barbakh) The measure will be in place for 45 days and can then be renewed. The move is believed to be the first time Israel has shut down a foreign news outlet. The channel’s various outlets are now blocked from being viewed in Israel; its website is inaccessible from the country. The move came as Qatari-mediated negotiations for a deal between Hamas and Israel on the release of Israeli hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza entered a critical phase. The main offices of Al Jazeera, located elsewhere in Jerusalem, were already shut down a while ago due to what Omary described as “long-time incitement” by members of Israel’s current far-right government. As a result of the recent government order, the network has stopped all work within Israel and is currently operating out of the West Bank territories under Palestinian Authority control. According to Nitzan Chen, director of the Israeli Government Press Office, a decision regarding the revocation of Al Jazeera journalists’ press accreditation has yet to be made. “The issue is subject to legal clarification,” Chen told The Media Line, refusing to answer any other questions on the sensitive matter that has sparked criticism of Israel. The network has 16 staffers currently unable to work in Israel. Al Jazeera employees a total of 57 people in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. While Israel claims that the network poses a security risk to the country, it has not released any evidence to back this claim. Israeli media reported that the heads of the national security services voiced their reservation regarding the timing of the move, as it could negatively impact the truce talks currently being mediated by Qatar. The station has differentiated itself from others in the Arab world, both by allowing for the expression of views contrasting those broadcast in state-run and closely censored Arab channels and by frequently interviewing Israelis—officials and others—whose voices were previously never heard in the Arab world. Omary denies the Israeli government’s claims about Al Jazeera posing a threat to Israel’s security. Part of the cabinet deliberations on the order to shut down the network are sealed from public access, making some of Israel’s accusations difficult to prove or disprove. “Al Jazeera glorifies Hamas and aids it by reporting on Israeli troop movements,” said David M. Weinberg, senior managing fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. “It constantly seeks to drum up terrorism against Israelis during Ramadan, calling daily for West Bank Palestinians to rise up against Israel in sympathy with the Hamas in Gaza.” According to Omary, “This is all a lie. We constantly broadcast everything from Israeli officials—from government spokespeople to Israeli military spokesmen. We are always ready to have Israeli officials come and express their points of view. We do not incite against Israel and have never violated the law, including military censorship. The government knows very well they have no real accusations against us, this is being done for political reasons,” he added. Hours after the cabinet meeting, there were reports that the talks between Hamas and Israel had essentially collapsed and intense efforts by US officials were underway to salvage them. “Israel is trying to pressure Qatar in order to reach a deal on the hostages—this is the major reason,” said Omary. “It’s clear that Israel has delayed acting against Al Jazeera until now because of the role that Qatar was playing in the attempts to cut a hostage deal with Hamas,” Weinberg said. “Given the fact that the Qatari efforts seem to have failed, there is no longer any good reason to delay acting against Al Jazeera,” he reasoned. Meanwhile, there has been no official announcement from any of the parties involved in the talks that they have ended in failure. The move has been widely criticized both in Israel and internationally, coming under fire as a move that curtails the freedom of the press. “This is a dark day for the media,” read a statement from the Foreign Press Association in Israel. “With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station.” The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has petitioned the Supreme Court, requesting to cancel the order. “There is a wide variety of effective measures Israel has at its disposal in order to protect its national security from media outlets who are accused of incitement long before closing down a network,” said Hagar Shechter, a lawyer at ACRI who is a signatory to the appeal. “The complete shutting down of a network is undemocratic and is reserved for dictatorships,” Shechter told The Media Line. “It may well be that Al Jazeera expresses a narrative that is uncomfortable for Israelis to hear, but during times of war, there is even greater importance to hear different narratives.” Journalists from Israel sometimes rely on Al Jazeera for their reports on the Arab world. The network reports and stories are often quoted by Israeli media outlets, also as a window for Israelis to see and hear Arab sentiment on pressing issues, including the current war. Earlier in the war, Israel shut down the Al Mayadeen network associated with the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization, claiming that the network was causing “substantial harm to national security.” Israel accuses the Qatari news channel of bias against it. Relations between Al Jazeera and Israel have always been tense but took a turn for the worse two years ago when a prominent journalist from the network, Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, an incident the Israeli military later apologized for. During the current war, a cameraman for the network was killed by an Israeli airstrike, and several other staffers were wounded. Al Jazeera and other networks have accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists, a claim Israel denies. Not everyone is opposed to the move. “This is long overdue,” Weinberg told The Media Line. “The network hosts the most antisemitic, anti-Western, radical Islamic preachers who poison the minds of millions against Israel and the West.” Israel is not the first country to clash with Al Jazeera. In 2013, Egypt stopped the English broadcasting of the channel, accusing it of incitement and detaining several of its journalists. Iraq also closed the station that same year. In 2017, Saudi Arabia blocked the network’s website, claiming it was favoring Iran as a regional power. “Israel should ask other dictatorships how well it worked out for them when they banned Al Jazeera,” said Omary. Throughout the years, several US officials have also criticized the network for having an anti-US bias, but no major move has ever been taken against it. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-05

The head of Al Jazeera in Israel, Walid Omary, responded to to close the Qatari-owned station's local operations, claiming that that move is "dangerous" and motivated by politics rather than professional considerations. Al Jazeera's legal team was preparing a response in anticipation of a court appeal against the decision, Omary told Reuters. Qatar's further condemned the move, calling the decision a "criminal action." "Israel's suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty," it said. After much consideration, Israel unanimously voted to shut down the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera's operations in Israel on Sunday.  At the start of the Israeli government initially passed an emergency executive measure to shut down Al Jazeera temporarily. Ultimately, the government did not implement the temporary shutdown for fear that it would result in negative diplomatic ramifications with Qatar.  AL JAZEERA headquarters in Doha, Qatar. (credit: Imad Creidi/Reuters) However, the Israeli cabinet's decision on Sunday was said to be based on classified opinions from the Shin Bet that deemed Al Jazeera a national security threat.  The decision, which requires recertification every 45 days, includes shutting down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Arabic and English, shutting down Al Jazeera's offices in Israel, seizing equipment used for its broadcasts, and limiting access to its websites. Before the decision can be implemented officially in the country, it must first be brought before a regional chief justice or deputy chief justice within 24 hours, who then have three days to decide whether or not to change the decision or limit the length of the ban. Reuters and Eliav Breuer contributed to this report. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-04

The Iranian foreign minister Amir Abdollahian met his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on Saturday afternoon, Iranian media reported. The meeting was important for Iran, as it took place on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in the capital of The Gambia, where Iran sought to influence Egypt on issues relating to Gaza. “During their meeting, extended gratitude for Egypt's proactive measures in addressing the Gaza crisis and reiterated Iran's readiness to extend humanitarian assistance to the region, urging Cairo's collaboration in these humanitarian efforts,” Tehran Times reported. The meeting was important for Iran, and their state media covered it and also put out footage showing the men meeting. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also posted about the meeting on social media. The ministry said the men “discussed key issues on the Agenda of the Summit and ongoing efforts to stop the current war in Gaza.” According to the Iranian reports, “Sameh Shoukry expressed satisfaction with the meeting, reaffirming Egypt's commitment to and advancing bilateral relations. He expressed optimism that ongoing political and diplomatic endeavors would contribute to halting the Gaza conflict and safeguarding Palestinian rights.” Egypt reiterated its stance against further escalation in the region, while Iran slammed Israel’s “atrocities” during the meeting. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar, on February 13, 2024. In the background is a large photograph of Jerusalem. (credit: WANA/REUTERS) “This meeting held particular significance as Egypt is eager to maintain strong ties with Iran, aiming to strengthen bilateral relations and collaborate in efforts to curb Israeli abuses in Palestine,” the Iranian reports said. The reports noted that the US, Qataris, and Egyptians are currently focused on ceasefire talks and a hostage deal. The Iranian diplomat appeared pleased to see Egypt oppose an Israeli operation in Rafah. Iran’s delegation will be in Gambia for another day through Sunday. Abdollahian also held meetings with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, which appears to come as reports in various foreign media have focused on the chances of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The reports indicate Iran is seeking to use the meetings in Gambia to strengthen its hand and bring up the Palestinian issue. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stayed longer than usual in Turkey when he visited in mid-April along with a large Hamas delegation. It’s not the first time Hamas leaders have been greeted in Turkey with fanfare by Turkey’s president. Ankara has long backed Hamas and hosted its delegations over the years. Hamas has been hosted by US major non-NATO ally Qatar since 2012, and the West has supported its allies hosting Hamas, which is an inconvenient aspect of the H. Hamas is backed by two Western allies and carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas is unlikely to move completely from one Western ally to another because it receives more protection by being hosted for high-level meetings by both Ankara and Doha. However, there is now speculation in Israeli media about whether the Haniyeh meetings and his subsequent stay in Turkey for several days symbolize more to come. This comes amid months of rumors that from Qatar, where it has been hosted since 2012. The rumors about Hamas seeking to extend its stay in Turkey came from a report at Asharq al-Awsat. The report was then re-reported in Maariv and other media. “Sources close to Hamas told the newspaper that the purpose of the visit to Istanbul is to discuss Turkey's role as a debating country and Ankara's role after the war. According to the sources, Hamas does not want to cause further embarrassment to Qatar, and its officials would prefer to leave and reduce the pressure.” In another report, a senior Hamas official claimed the group would relocate to Jordan if it were asked to leave Qatar. Al-Arabiya noted that Hamas official “Mousa Abu Marzouk insisted that any talk of Hamas leaders leaving Qatar is currently unfounded, but said that Jordan could serve as an alternative destination.” The report also noted that “Doha was asked by Washington to host them.” The Hamas official said, “All this talk about Hamas’ departure from Qatar is worthless,” in an interview with the al-Alam news channel. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar December 20, 2023. (credit: IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) On April 20, The Wall Street Journal reported that “Hamas’s political leadership is looking to move from its current base in Qatar, as US legislators build pressure on the Gulf state to deliver on cease-fire negotiations that look likely to fail.” The article in the Journal made it appear that if Hamas was asked to leave Doha, then it could “upend delicate talks to free dozens of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza and likely make it more difficult for Israel and the US to pass messages to a group designated by Washington as a terrorist organization. Hamas leaders have lived in Doha, the Qatari capital, since 2012 in an arrangement supported by the US” That report said that Hamas could consider Oman as a possible destination. Understanding how Hamas and Doha handle messaging on this issue is important. Prior to October 7, Israel and the West were told that having Hamas hosted in Qatar, and also having it welcomed in NATO member Turkey, would moderate Hamas. The messaging was that diplomacy and engagement would lead to stability. However, Hamas stockpiled masses of weapons in Gaza and built hundreds of miles of tunnels, becoming exponentially more powerful in the decade and a half its members were greeted and hosted in Doha and Ankara. Hamas received support from Iran and has also had high-level meetings in Russia, but it is the fact that it has friends in high places among Western allies that gave Hamas the comfort to feel that it had the impunity to carry out October 7. In addition Israel was lured into a sense that Hamas was deterred prior to October 7 because it seemed implausible a group hosted by western allies would ever carry out such a massive terror attack. Israel believed the Hezbollah and Iranian proxy threats were worse than Hamas because Hamas has a foot in both camps, it is both backed by Iran and also friendly with western allies. One could argue that Hamas has had tacit or indirect Western backing over the decades. For instance, many Western NGOs partner with Hamas in Gaza and describe its police and its role as bringing “law and order” to Gaza. How those same NGOs square that with images of the dead body of Shani Louk being paraded through the streets by their Hamas partners on October 7 is unclear. Nevertheless, there is ample evidence that Western NGOs see Hamas as “law and order” in Gaza, preferable to the “chaos” of not having Hamas. Hamas gunmen are often seen taking over aid trucks in Gaza in coordination with humanitarian aid groups. This leads us back to the question of whether Hamas would relocate from Doha. Doha’s messaging today is that any relocation would jeopardize the hostages. However, since Hamas violated the first hostage deal on December 1, no more deals have taken place. The messaging by Hamas is clear. Prior to October 7 it was “deterred” and having it hosted by western allies supposedly enabled Israel and the West to “engage” with it and prevent war. Then Hamas carried out the worst attack in Israel’s history, and the messaging shifted to assert that Hamas must be hosted by Western allies in order to do hostage deals, deals that never seem to happen. The messaging from Hamas is that they want a deal to remain in Gaza, to get numerous of their murderous prisoners back, and then have impunity to carry out more attacks. Hamas enjoys impunity primarily because it has the cover of Western allies. Jordan or Oman do not give it a similar cover. Hamas leaders such as Khaled Meshaal were once located in Jordan, but even the Kingdom found hosting them was not helpful. Hamas has spent four decades spreading terror and undermining peace, so why would a wise country like Jordan want to host them? After all, it is Hamas that was responsible for harming peace during the Oslo years, increasing bus bombings, and then illegally taking over Gaza in 2007 and ejecting the Jordanian-backed and Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Oddly, the West decided to play both sides, as they also did in Afghanistan. They trained the Palestinian Authority Security Forces, but they hedged their bets by being open to their allies hosting Hamas. Hamas, through being hosted by Western allies, became exponentially stronger since 2012. Its rockets, which once only flew a few kilometers, and its once small tunnels grew into monstrous proportions, openly, with the West watching it happen. Doha became a major non-NATO ally of the US, hosting Hamas and the Taliban. The Taliban were brought back to power in Kabul in 2021. It appears that major non-NATO ally status was a reward for hosting these groups. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others who are partners of the West got increasingly the cold shoulder; the more they cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, the more they didn’t want to host Hamas, and the more they embraced peace with Israel. The message is clear for Hamas. It grew exponentially powerful and wealthy through Western allies. Iran may have supplied the know-how for the missiles and weapons, but the wealth and impunity for attacks and cover against war crimes prosecution comes through Western allies. This is why Hezbollah today faces more challenges than Hamas because it is a Shi’ite sectarian-based Iranian proxy. Hamas is setting its sights on the West Bank to take over when PA President Mahmoud Abbas passes. As such, it will want the backing of Ankara, Doha, and the West when it seeks power in Ramallah. If Hamas is relegated to only being backed by Iran or stuck in a place like Oman, it won’t be able to swoop into control of the West Bank after the Gaza war eventually ends. The long game for Ankara and Doha, and their Western allies, is to have a foothold in Gaza and the West Bank via Hamas. Hamas understands this and knows that it is sometimes used as a tool for larger agendas, and it exploits that to carry out massacres such as October 7. There are no other cases of Western allies hosting terrorist groups who massacre thousands of people and take hundreds of hostages, including citizens of Western countries. Al-Shabab or Boko Haram don’t get the red carpet in meetings in Turkey. Hamas, due to its Muslim Brotherhood roots, its important role in Palestinian politics, and its war against Israel, is hosted by Western allies because both the West and Western allies have an interest in keeping Hamas corralled in their corner and not just a pariah group backed by Iran. This has been a disaster for the Gaza, but the interests are larger than Gaza. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

The student protests in the US against Israel have morphed into a sort of "youth rebellion." A significant portion of the participants are unclear about the exact reasons they are demonstrating. However, they are driven by a highly organized group with clearly defined and sharp goals. The disgraceful success of the despicable and in support of Hamas on US campuses stems from the fact that they are anything but spontaneous. They are meticulously organized and generously funded. To uncover the entities behind this organization, one should revisit the Middle East of 2019, when a coalition of Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt - levied a boycott against Qatar for its support of terrorism. In contrast to the present, during the boycott period, Arab commentators and journalists published articles that exposed Qatar's propaganda efforts in the US and the substantial funds it poured into "educating" America. Before the Saudi-Qatari reconciliation five years ago, the Arab press in the coalition countries disclosed how the "Muslim Brotherhood" movement had begun to dominate segments of the American educational system. In July 2020, Najat Al-Saeed, a researcher from the UAE, penned an article in "Al-Hurra" newspaper titled "Qatar and the Funding of American Universities". She described the odd alliance formed between the radical American left and Muslim Brotherhood activists, funded by Qatar. According to her, an increasing number of professors and students affiliated with the left-Brotherhood alliance, who align with its principles, are usurping the freedom of thought at US universities. Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2023. (credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters) Academics attempting to express dissenting views are suppressed under the guise of "political correctness" and ostensibly "racist thought." As Al-Saeed noted, the financial sources for the left-Brotherhood alliance prominently include the Qatari principality. She cited alarming figures from the US Department of Education, indicating that in 2019, American educational institutions received funding exceeding a billion and 30 million dollars from external sources, predominantly Qatar. In 2012, it was reported that the Qatari International Education Institution "Mu'assasat Qatar" had spent at least one and a half billion dollars on at 28 universities across America, becoming the leading external financier of education in the US. Al-Saeed further exposed that Qatar routinely spends 405 million dollars annually to support activities at six American universities that maintain branches in Doha, Qatar's capital. Qatar uses the initiatives it sponsors and the research it finances to disseminate Islamist ideology reflective of Qatari views. It is essential to remember that Qatar is a country with an extremist Wahhabi religious school and that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was profoundly influenced by the ideology of Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who operated in Qatar until he died in 2022. The right aligns with Saudi Arabia Al-Saeed argued in her article that the Qatari propaganda seeping into American academic institutions is designed to glorify the principality and vilify its adversaries, led by , Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain. The Qatari funds are intended to support the Muslim Brotherhood in the US alongside the so-called "progressive" radical left. Al-Saeed highlights a critical aspect of the politics behind the propaganda, suggesting that Qatar aims to bolster the left in the US because the conservative right opposes Qatar and supports its rivals, notably Saudi Arabia. The situation has significantly deteriorated in the four years since the article was written. Raymond Ibrahim, an American Christian academic of Egyptian origin, revealed two months ago that Qatar has invested $5.6 billion in 81 American universities since 2007, including the most prestigious ones: Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Stanford. His reports also mention the funding of academic activities in the US by other countries, albeit in much smaller amounts, led by Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Turkey. According to Ibrahim, the activities funded by Qatar and these other Middle Eastern countries are steeped in hatred for Western cultural values, such as freedom of expression and women's rights. A 2020 official report by the US Department of Education warned that many contributions to American academic institutions come from sources overtly hostile to the US. Ibrahim also revealed that propaganda against Israel and many anti-Israel activities on campuses, even before the Gaza war, were funded by "generous donors" from the Middle East. An intriguing section of Ibrahim's article reveals that the funding entities from the Middle East, led by Qatar, invest heavily in Islamic studies but do not encourage academic research of non-Muslim minorities in the Middle East, such as Christians, Jews, Baha'is, Yazidis, Kurds, and Druze. Ultimately, Ibrahim explains, these contributions are intended solely to promote radical and intolerant versions of Islam studies. He concludes that the failure of US policy in the Middle East stems from the fact that many of the advisers to the US government are graduates of this corrupted academic system. Who is behind the campus protests in the US?Who funds Hamas?Who disseminates propaganda supporting Gazan terror globally through Al Jazeera?Who financed the jihadist movements that devastated Syria in the civil war?Who conducted the deceptive negotiations between the US and the Taliban about Afghanistan's future?Who continues to fund the Muslim Brotherhood worldwide?Who stole the World Cup and corrupted FIFA? The answer to all these questions and more disturbing inquiries is singular. Dr. Yaron Friedman is a researcher, lecturer, and teacher of Arabic at the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Haifa. Yaron directs the newsletter "This Week in the Middle East," which you can subscribe to here: . ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

On April 20, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, to Istanbul. Official statements announced that they met to discuss humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the sanctions that Turkey had recently announced against Israel, but the rumor mills were churning out a quite different story. Reports in the media suggested that this Ankara meeting was the result of a breakdown in relations between Hamas and Qatar. Hamas’s political hierarchy has been based in Qatar since 2012, where the Gulf kingdom has housed them in luxury hotels. More recently, together with the US and Egypt, Qatar has taken on the role of mediator between Hamas and Israel. On the day of the Erdogan-Haniyeh meeting, The Wall Street Journal, citing an Arab official, reported that Qatar believes its role as a trusted mediator is being to conclude a hostage-for-truce deal, and that it has threatened Hamas leaders with expulsion from Qatar if they do not. Other reports, noting that the truce talks have stalled and perhaps assuming that Hamas will remain intransigent, state that Hamas’s political chiefs are actively exploring moving their base of operations out of Qatar. The WSJ says Hamas has recently contacted two regional countries about having its leaders live there. One of them is Oman (which has denied the story). The other, one media report suggests, could be Iran. Or, it now appears, it might be Turkey. If the Hamas leadership does leave Qatar, the long-standing Hamas-Qatari relationship could be severed, mediated negotiations would certainly be disrupted, and any slim chance of a deal to free dozens of the Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza would go on the back burner. Israel’s options to rescue the hostages would be reduced to the long-anticipated Rafah operation and a military defeat of Hamas. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar December 20, 2023. (credit: IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) On April 17, Democratic US Congressman accused Qatar of failing to exert sufficient pressure on the Palestinian group to accept a ceasefire proposal. He went so far as to accuse Qatar of “siding with Hamas.” If they failed to persuade Hamas to accept a deal, he said that Washington would reevaluate its ties with the Gulf country. This prompted Qatar to release a statement, expressing surprise at Hoyer’s threat. “We share his frustration that Hamas and Israel have not reached an agreement on the release of the remaining hostages,” the statement ran, “… but Qatar is only a mediator – we do not control Israel or Hamas.” Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, has been trying to mediate a deal from the start of the Gaza war. Despite Hoyer’s criticism, the Gulf kingdom has gained considerable praise for its efforts, particularly its success in brokering the temporary ceasefire that took effect from November 24 to 30, and included the release of 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. On November 27, the Qatari foreign ministry announced that a two-day extension to the ceasefire had been agreed in which 20 Israelis and 60 Palestinians would be released. Close to the end of the first extension another one-day extension to the truce was agreed by both sides, but it broke down on December 1, and shortly afterward hostilities were resumed. Since then no amount of mediation has succeeded in gaining agreement on the terms of a further truce and hostage release. The negotiations have stalled. And Qatar is unhappy, not only at its failure to persuade Hamas to accept any kind of deal, but also at the criticism it is facing as a consequence. On April 17, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani announced that Qatar is reevaluating its mediation role in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. “Qatar is proceeding with a complete reevaluation of its role,” he said, complaining, without naming Hoyer, about “the exploitation by some politicians who are trying to conduct their electoral campaigns by defaming the State of Qatar. There are limits to this role and limits to the ability to which we can contribute to these negotiations in a constructive way.” Perhaps the limits were reached when all efforts to replicate the truce-for-hostage deal – successfully concluded in November – were blocked by Hamas intransigence. So perhaps the media reports are accurate. Perhaps Qatar has lost patience, and is showing Hamas the door. Although Hamas has denied that it is seeking a new base, the Haniyeh-Erdogan meeting, followed by a trip to Doha, Qatar’s capital, by Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, may indicate something different. As a side issue, some in the Israeli government go along with Congressman Hoyer, and regard the Gulf kingdom as too biased to be impartial. Some would actually welcome Qatar abandoning its mediator role, in the hope that if Qatar steps aside, Cairo will take over. “Egypt should have been the main mediator from the beginning,” a member of the hostage negotiation team in Israel told the Daily Telegraph. “They don’t align with the Muslim Brotherhood mentality, and have no vested interests with Hamas like Qatar and Turkey do.” The Israeli negotiator has a point. Qatar and Erdogan’s Turkey have both supported Hamas for years, and they share the Sunni Islamist ideology it promulgates. Egypt, on the other hand, has banned the Muslim Brotherhood and declared it a terrorist organization. On April 22, HuffPost reported that, in rare extensive interviews last month, two prominent Hamas leaders separately spoke of flexibility on their . They spoke shortly after a Hamas delegation had returned from a lengthy visit to Iran. As a consequence, some experts saw Tehran as a possible next base for the organization, a scenario that would leave the US with far less access to, or leverage over, Hamas. Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s politburo in Gaza, explained that if Qatar decided to withdraw its hospitality, the organization was quite prepared to move. “Hamas leadership is used to [moving] from place to place,” he said. But Hamas is increasingly concerned with projecting a confident image and challenging the idea it is becoming more isolated. So when the HuffPost contacted Naim again on April 21, he had somewhat changed his tune. He pointed to a statement he had recently issued rejecting the WSJ article as “complicit with the Israeli misleading propaganda.” Claims that Hamas “is considering leaving Qatar for another country,” he said “have no basis.” Time will tell. The writer is the Middle East correspondent for Eurasia Review. His latest book is Trump and the Holy Land: 2016-2020. Follow him at: www.a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-27

When first opened its bureau in Jerusalem’s technological park 18 years ago, I enjoyed the novelty of getting interviewed on the Qatari network. Their interviewers were never particularly fair, but that made it more of a challenge and more gratifying than a typical interview with Fox News or a speech to AIPAC or the Jewish National Fund. I hoped that by presenting Israel’s side to the Arab and Muslim world, I was making a difference. If the rest of the panel, the host, and the callers were all Arabs – as often happened – proving them all wrong made me feel like an underdog boxer who had won against all odds. Full disclosure: Al Jazeera, unlike CNN and most news networks, provides a stipend for interviews, and I have therefore been paid by the same Qatari government that funds the Hamas terrorists who are trying to kill me and my loved ones right now. I never turned the money down, but I swear I would have done it for free. When Israeli governments chose to boycott Al Jazeera, I still kept interviewing there more than any other network and connecting the network’s Jerusalem- and Doha-based producers to Israelis from across the political spectrum who presented different sides within Israeli democracy. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar, on February 13, 2024. In the background is a large photograph of Jerusalem. (credit: WANA/REUTERS) I insisted on explaining news developments in Israel without taking any side in internal Israeli political debates or taking a side on the Israeli government’s policies. No matter how many times my words were twisted or my time to speak on a panel was limited unjustly, I never felt particularly guilty about my years of cooperation with Al Jazeera. Until this war. SINCE OCT. 7, Al Jazeera has been an active participant in Hamas’s efforts to defeat Israel on both the military and media battlefields. Viewers around the world need to know this if they care about being educated news consumers. Your typical American news consumer would not watch the state TV channels of Russia (RT), China (CGTN), or Iran (Press TV), yet they watch Al Jazeera and AJ+, the state-run propaganda channels of the Qatari government. In 2022, the media watchdog HonestReporting uncovered that Al Jazeera had been cited by 16 “top-tier news outlets” 116 times in Israel-related news stories, with most never mentioning the Qatari media organization’s inherent bias. Al Jazeera incredibly claims a global audience of more than 430 million. They watched Al Jazeera spread a malicious libel about during last month’s IDF campaign against entrenched Hamas forces, before quietly removing the story and trying to silently bury it. Al Jazeera Arabic’s principal news presenter, Elsy Abi Assi, interviewed on live TV a Gazan woman by the name of Jamila Al-Hessi, who claimed that Israeli soldiers operating in were raping Palestinian women and brutally murdering other Palestinians sheltering in the medical complex. These allegations soon spread like wildfire on social media, with popular anti-Israel accounts picking up the story and disseminating it to their large English-speaking audiences. Then, that night, Yasser Abuhilalah, an Al Jazeera columnist and former director, tweeted that a Hamas investigation into the allegations had concluded they were untrue and that Al-Hessi had justified her on-air deception by saying she had exaggerated her claims in order to “arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood.” At least Abuhilalah revealed the truth. Too many . Two months ago, the IDF discovered that one of the network’s journalists was a Hamas commander. Evidence obtained from a laptop found in Gaza revealed that reporter Mohammed Wishah held a senior role in Hamas’s anti-tank unit and taught young jihadis how to fire anti-tank missiles and make incendiary devices. Another Al Jazeera journalist, Ismail Abu Omar, accompanied Hamas terrorists into Israel on Oct. 7. In footage he posted from inside Kibbutz Nir Oz, he praised the Hamas terrorists carrying out the atrocities, saying: “The friends have progressed, may God bless.” Analyst Eitan Fischberger revealed last week that yet another Al Jazeera journalist, Khalil Dweeb, self-identified as part of Hamas. He was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for weapons possession. First time I've found an Al Jazeera journalist who openly identifies as Hamas.Earlier this week, the Palestinian Authority arrested Khalil Dweeb for possession of an illegal weapon (first time the PA has done something right). So I took a brief look at Khalil's Facebook and… Viewers who get their news from Al Jazeera need to know they are regularly being fed blatant lies. The night of Iran’s April 14 attack on Israel, Al Jazeera reported erroneously that rockets were hitting Tel Aviv. Al Jazeera just shared a 100% lie report about rockets hitting Tel Aviv. Al Jazeera is sharing fake news about what is happening in Israel, aligning with Hamas and Iran then they question why are they being banned from the country. THERE HAVE also been interviews that have been utterly disgraceful. The Hostage Forum decided to boycott the Qatari network after Merav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi is being held captive in Gaza, was questioned alongside Zaher Jabareen, the Hamas official in charge of the hostages. “Apparently, Al Jazeera’s take on ‘journalism’ – or being a decent human, for that matter – is to invite a mother of an Israeli civilian who was abducted from the Supernova music festival, then add a Hamas official to the interview without her consent, then try to turn the interview into a heated debate about politics, and eventually – when she refuses to bite – to proudly post that she hung up the phone,” journalist Elad Simchayoff wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Great job, guys! You won a made-up argument with a mum who doesn’t know whether her daughter is dead or alive.” Utterly disgraceful.Apparently, Al Jazeera’s take on ‘journalism’ - or being a decent human for that matter - is to invite a mother of an Israeli civilian who was abducted from the Nova music festival, then add a Hamas official to the interview without her consent, then try to… An feature about the war included maliciously false claims that Israel killed numerous Israeli civilians and hostages on Oct. 7 and disputed whether Hamas terrorists raped Israeli victims. According to Al Jazeera, its so-called “Investigative Unit” carried out a forensic analysis of the day of the massacre – including “examining seven hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones, and headcams of dead Hamas fighters” – and concluded that “many of the worst stories that came out in the days following the attack were false.” It is no wonder the Knesset approved the so-called Al Jazeera Law, which gives the government temporary powers to prevent a foreign news network from operating in Israel if deemed by security agencies to be harming national security. The law comes with several caveats that render it almost toothless. Such a decision would have to be approved by the prime minister, the security cabinet, and the president of a district court. The order would only be valid for 45 days, and since the law was passed as a temporary measure it will automatically expire in July or even earlier if the declaration of an emergency situation is lifted by the government. Israel was slammed by the White House and international human rights groups for passing the law, but its justification can be readily understood. Al Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem aren’t going anywhere any time soon. But discerning viewers should go elsewhere if they want honest reporting about Israel and the Middle East. The writer is the executive director and executive editor of HonestReporting. He served as chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post for 24 years. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-23

Essa Al-Nassr, a member of the Shura council, spoke yesterday at an Arab League session, expressing antisemitic remarks and inciting to violence and terrorism. In his remarks, he said: “there will be no peace nor negotiations with the Zionist entity for one reason: because their mentality does not recognize negotiations, but rather only… breaking promises and lying… They only recognize one thing, which is killings; since they are killers of prophets.” The accusation of Jews as ‘killers of prophets’ is a well-known antisemitic trope made in several Islamic texts, which is understood by many, including Al-Nassr himself, as a charge against the entire Jewish people valid for eternity. This allegation is reminiscent and perhaps reflective of the charge of deicide by which Jews were accused in classical Christian texts. In addition to the inherent antisemitic rhetoric featured in such allegations, the projection of real or unreal wrongdoings by Jews of ancient times onto the modern State of Israel is viewed as another type of antisemitism practiced nowadays in many religious and nationalistic circles. Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2023. (credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters) Al-Nassr was not satisfied with these comments alone, as he went on in his speech to commend the “Flood of Al-Aqsa operation” (Hamas’s name for the October 7th massacre), claiming that this was only a “prelude to the annihilation of the corruption of the ‘second Zionist entity’ upon earth.”   He then referred to a presumably Godly promise for the ingathering of Jews in the land of Palestine as preparation for the ‘battle of the next generation,’ which according to Al-Nassr, would bring an end to the Jewish state. This excerpt refers to yet another religious-nationalistic view salient in Islamist circles which regards the ingathering of Jews in the Holy Land as part of a Godly plan to an epic battle of Muslims against Jews in which Jews as a whole would suffer a deadly blow. According to the Shura council’s website, Al-Nassr is a Brigadier General at the Guard for Intelligence and Security of the Emiri Guard, and serves as a member of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, and the Cultural and Media Affairs Committee. The Qatari Shura council of which Al-Nassr is a member, is comprised of 45 members, 15 of which are directly appointed by the Emir. Members of the council hold very limited powers, which allow them, inter alia, to oversee the country’s budget and question the Prime Minister about his policies, provided that two thirds of the council agree. In 2021, the passed a controversial election law which effectively denied the right of an entire clan, the Aal Murrah clan, to running in the elections, sparking a short-lived and very rare wave of protest from members of the clan, which in turn led to the arrest of seven clan activists and oppression of the movement. The Qatari regime made many headlines in the past six months due to their patronage and , a designated terror organization in many countries which led the October 7th massacre, featuring the murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of over 1500 Israelis and foreign citizens. The small Gulf country has also endeavored in the last months to act as a mediator between Israel and the terror organization in an attempt to broker deals in which Israeli citizens aged 1-86 would be released from captivity in exchange for Palestinians convicted in various terrorist actions, from murder to rioting to incitement. This is not the first time in which Qatar is found as a promoter of antisemitism, as a March 2023 report by the Zachor institute showed how its mouthpiece and state-owned channel Al-Jazeera has reportedly propagated conspiracy theories, holocaust denial and antisemitic tropes on its various outlets, mainly the Arabic-speaking ones. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-20

Despite reports that is considering continuing its role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, the Hamas leadership is considering leaving the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. According to the report, sources in the Arab world said that in recent days, Hamas has been holding talks with two Arab countries and noted that one of them is Oman. As you may recall, in recent years, with the accession of Arab countries to the , Israel has also had contacts with Oman, and last year, Muscat approved Israeli flights to pass through its airspace. However, this decision was canceled with the outbreak of war on October 7th. If the leadership of Hamas leaves Qatar, there is a fear that the crisis in relations will cause the collapse of the contacts for the release of Israeli hostages from the captivity of Hamas, in which Qatar serves as a central mediator. Earlier this week, as mentioned, the Prime Minister of Qatar, , announced that his country is "re-examining its position as a mediator between Israel and Gaza." Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2023. (credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters) "Our position is being misused by politicians for their own purposes," said Al-Thani, his words come a few days after Hamas announced once again that the current outline for the hostage deal is not acceptable to it. Al-Thani also said, "We had extensive contacts with Tehran and Washington to prevent any escalation. We hear from all the parties in the region that they do not want war - the best way to reduce the escalation in the region is to stop the war in Gaza." Last Sunday, it was reported that Hamas's response to the mediators' proposal included a willingness to release only about 20 abductees in exchange for a six-week ceasefire - about half the number of abductees that the outline originally included, an Israeli official said. The Israeli official pointed out that Hamas is using the answer he gave to the mediators with "ridiculous excuses" to explain the reduction in the number of abductees he is willing to release in the first phase of the deal. For example, Hamas claims that some of the abductees included in this part of the deal - women, men over the age of 50, and men in serious medical conditions - are not alive or are not in its hands. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-16

The embassy in the US expressed surprise on Tuesday at comments made by a US Democratic congressman regarding the and his threat to "reevaluate" the US relationship with Qatar. Congressman Steny Hoyer said on Monday that Qatar, which along with Egypt is mediating negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, should tell Hamas there will be "repercussions" if the terrorist Palestinian group "continues to block progress towards releasing the hostages and establishing a temporary ceasefire". "Consequences ought to include cutting off funding to Hamas or refusing to grant Hamas' leaders refuge in Doha. If fails to apply this pressure, the United States must reevaluate its relationship with Qatar," Hoyer said in a statement. In response, Qatar said Hoyer's comments were not "constructive". "Qatar is only a mediator - we do not control Israel or Hamas. Israel and Hamas are entirely responsible for reaching an agreement," the embassy statement said. Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2023. (credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters) "Of course, recent progress has been slow, and Congressman Hoyer is not alone in his frustration. But blaming and threatening is not constructive," it said. Qatar is a major non-NATO ally, the statement added, and presently hosts 10,000 US troops and the largest US military presence in the Middle East. The embassy statement also dismissed Hoyer's suggestion that Hamas should not be in Qatar. "It is certainly tempting to do as he suggests and walk away from seemingly intransigent parties... but it is useful to remember that Qatar's mediation role exists only because we were asked by the US in 2012 to play this role since, regrettably, Israel and Hamas refuse to speak to each other directly," it said. Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages during an Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel. An estimated 129 hostages remain in Gaza and negotiators have spoken of some 40 being freed in the first stage of a possible deal with Hamas. The Oct. 7 killing spree by Hamas triggered Israel's ground and aerial offensive in Gaza which Hamas officials say has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-13

Israel and the United States should not trust Qatar as an honest broker, according to Dr. Charles Asher Small, founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). “We know that the , which is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Small said in an interview with The Jerusalem Report on March 18 as hostage negotiations were underway in Doha, Qatar. “They also have good relations with the Taliban and with the Iranian revolutionary regime, and this is who we’re dealing with. I think that in the US and Europe, because of a lot of investment in PR and branding, they portray themselves as an honest broker, in this case with the hostage negotiations, but we really have to realize that they are the sanitized face of the Muslim Brotherhood.” ISGAP is a leading global research institute dedicated to through rigorous analysis and policy recommendations. Its groundbreaking Follow the Money project, launched in 2012, has been at the forefront of investigating the flow of funds from foreign entities to US universities, uncovering substantial funding from Qatar. Montreal-born Small, an international expert in antisemitism, extremism, and illicit funding in higher education, who now lives in the US, was in Israel for meetings with ISGAP’s chair, Natan Sharansky, and Israeli officials. I started by mistake in 2012. To make a long story short, we found money going to Yale University from the Muslim Brotherhood and started our research project. In 2019, we presented our research at a summit on antisemitism in Washington, attended by the heads of Homeland Security and the FBI, as well as the attorney-general and secretaries of state and education. We found $3 billion of undocumented money coming from the Muslim Brotherhood to American universities. Our research led to a federal investigation, and within a short period of time they found about $18 billion in undocumented money. When the Biden administration came into power, the investigation was called off; but because of the minor success that we had, we were able to expand our research. So now we have a team of experts on terror financing, experts on the Muslim Brotherhood, and scholars, and we’ve been able to ascertain that tens of billions of dollars are coming in from Qatar to American universities. The Qataris are funding higher education institutes in the United States, Canada, the UK, and around the world. And we believe there’s a correlation between their funding and rising antisemitism in the academic environment. Since October 7, we’ve come out with six reports on Qatar and the . Two reports are on Texas A&M University and its campus in Qatar. We discovered over $1 billion that Qatar gave to Texas A&M, and for years they tried to hide the contracts between the two entities. We found parts of the contract, and we discovered that Texas A&M gave Qatar all the intellectual property rights for all the research they were doing together, which was rather odd. We found 502 research projects they were doing together, with 57 projects flagged as possible dual use for military research, and 12 projects in particular with nuclear military implications. After we published the two reports, Texas A&M decided in secret deliberations to vote 7-1 to close the campus in Qatar. We have another report coming out imminently on Cornell University and we are also working on reports investigating MIT and other top US universities. Our findings further expose billions of dollars invested by Qatar in these universities, some of it unreported. Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2023. (credit: Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters) I think what we have to realize is that first of all, the Qatari regime is giving more money than any other country in the world to American universities. The Qatari royal family has a Bay’ah, which in Islam is a spiritual oath, to the Muslim Brotherhood. As we know, the Muslim Brotherhood calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Its leaders argue that the true Muslim is obligated to complete the work of Hitler. This is a core element of their ideology. They basically fuse European antisemitism, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and even Nazism with what I would call a perversion of Islam. This is what the Qatari regime represents, ideologically and religiously. We have to understand in negotiations that we’re really negotiating with the Muslim Brotherhood. We know that the Qataris funded Hamas, which is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. They have good relations with the Taliban and with the Iranian revolutionary regime, and this is who we’re dealing with. I think that in the US and Europe, because of a lot of investment in PR and branding, they portray themselves as an honest broker, in this case with the hostage negotiations, but we really have to realize that they are the sanitized face of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the kinetic field of war, Israel is much superior to Hamas; but in the war of propaganda, they’re using the weakness in the West to their advantage, and they’re encouraging the protests and the ceasefire calls, and the genocidal rhetoric and incitement coming out of the streets of Europe and North America. There’s a red-green alliance between what we refer to as the radical Left and the radical Islamists and even the radical Right to some extent, and it’s encouraging the antisemitism in the West. We’ve seen this in antisemitic discourse, and now in the violent acts against Jews taking place in the US, Canada, and elsewhere. Elie Wiesel – our first honorary president at ISGAP – always taught that antisemitism is not a parochial problem for the Jewish people or Israel. He said that antisemitism is a form of hatred that once unleashed, begins with the Jewish people but never ends with the Jewish people. It attacks the very fabric of human societies and human decency and knows no bounds. I think it’s incumbent upon the leadership of democratic countries to understand that this cancer is eating away at their most prestigious and important institutions of higher education, the place where young Americans learn to be citizens. I think the fact that the leaders of the United States and other Western countries are engaging the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian revolutionary regime is a strategic mistake from the perspective of protecting democratic values, number one. And number two, after October 7 we had an explosion of antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric starting on October 9. I think the fact that the protests that came out of the universities and onto the streets were anti-Israel and anti-Jewish really speaks to a cancer of antisemitism that is pervasive and even structured in Western democratic societies and is a threat to democracy. The fact that over five months later, Western leaders – including in the US – are now blaming the victim, blaming Israeli tactics in what is a Hamas war against democracy and an existential threat to the Jewish people, is really a mistake of historic proportions. The Americans can kick the can down the road with Iran, and they can kick the can down the road with antisemitism, but at what point are they going to stop and act as people defending democratic principles? The Jewish people and Israel and the West are fighting a malicious, Nazi-inspired, genocidal, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic, anti-democratic social movement with a cult of death. The Nazis hid their ‘final solution’ to some extent. These Hamas characters are advertising it, and their PR strategy is very effective. They’ve actually obtained more support by filming the massacres in southern Israel, not just from jihadists around the world but from so-called progressive intellectuals in the universities, and this poses a threat to the US, Israel, and other democratic societies. It’s Orwellian. We can see the inroads through the Qatari funding of our most important institution, higher education and others, as a new anti-Israel, antisemitic and anti-democratic discourse begins to filter down into society, into the media of record, into halls of policymaking, into the best law firms and PR firms in Washington. This is a cancer that is a real threat to the US and other democratic countries. I think they need to learn from history and develop strategies and policies to confront this anti-democratic cult of death. I think the Israeli government needs to understand the strategic threat that antisemitism poses to Israel and to Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora, and I’m afraid we’re at a tipping point. What we’re seeing now is an attack on Jews as a people. The focus is on the dehumanization of the State of Israel and Israelis and, by extension, people who have an affiliation to Israel that is now being labeled at our best universities as a racist, apartheid entity. So Jewish communities that are committed politically and ideologically or have family connections with srael are perceived increasingly as a threat to all that is good and decent. If I am on campus and I support Israel, I am increasingly perceived as supporting an apartheid state, by faculty and students. An apartheid state from a liberal human rights perspective, must be dismantled.This is a threat to Israel because as more and more people are educated with this worldview, it will affect the media of record and public policy. It’s a war of ideology. I think the Israelis need to make this a government-to-government issue, and not tolerate from allies this type of ideological attack on the State of Israel, and make sure it is not left unchallenged..Forty-two years ago in Switzerland, there were documents discovered by Swiss security police on the Muslim Brotherhood. A goal of what is called The Project was to distance Israel from the West, isolate it and defeat it, and use antisemitism as a way to fragment American society and weaken democratic countries. The US is the big Satan, and Israel is the small Satan. The Muslim Brotherhood is masterfully using soft power and antisemitism and anti-Zionism as a way to fragment and weaken America, and we see from October 9 that this is what is happening with the Qatari funding of American universities. ■ ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-04

DOHA, Qatar – Quite a few Israelis didn’t understand why I was interested in visiting Doha, the Qatari capital, to hold in-depth interviews and conversations with the heads of this small but powerful Muslim country. Public opinion research shows that Israelis have two main conceptions about Qatar:  1. The Qataris host Hamas leaders in Doha, and  2. They send suitcases of cash to Gaza. The oil rich Gulf state is known for soccer after winning the first-ever World Cup in the Arab world.  They have also earned a reputation as mediators in some of the most challenging conflicts around the globe and for their ability to bring home hostages: Americans held in Venezuela, Iran and North Korea, and to repatriate Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russian forces.  But despite their deeds and enormous resources, the world has yet to properly understand their story. People walk past an illuminated soccer ball ahead of the FIFA 2022 World cup soccer tournament at Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar November 15, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH) Telling that story, however, isn’t my business. As an Israeli journalist, I wanted to know precisely how they intend to help us get back all of the remaining 134 hostages, and I wanted to understand why they are hosting Hamas and funding the terrorist group in Gaza, as many of my colleagues and friends have been asking. Before going on this journey to a country with which Israel has no official relations, I consulted many foreign diplomats and Israeli officials who have a deeper understanding of the region.  “They are one of the good guys,” a senior American diplomatic source told me while still in Israel. “There are only a handful of countries in the world that the US sees as its true ally, with 100% faith: Qatar is one of them,” he said. “Qatar is crucial for Israel’s security and existence,” he determined: “Israel won’t be able to survive without cooperating with Qatar.” During almost three full days in Doha, the most senior Qatari government and business leaders tried to explain why they are actually “the good guys.” In the heart of Doha, conversations with senior Qatari officials reveal a multifaceted view of their country’s role in the region, diverging notably from the often-critical external perception. They describe Qatar as not just another player in Middle Eastern politics but as a proactive facilitator of regional stability and global security. Just hours after landing in Doha, I had a three-hour conversation after sundown with a senior official at a family camping site in the desert, about a 40-minute drive from the capital. It is difficult to explain this backdrop in words. However, it resembled a movie site more than a desert retreat. In one of the larger tents where other guests were waiting, I was offered various hot drinks and food. There are showers, bathrooms, a dining area, a volleyball court for the children, and many other smaller tents. We spoke about Israel, Hamas, , and the future of the Middle East. I was blown away by the man’s knowledge about Israel and personal acquaintances with Israel’s previous heads of security agencies. “Qatar and Israel are very similar,” the source said. Israel is under immediate threat, but so are we, as small countries with significant resources and complicated neighborhoods.” All of the senior Qatari officials who spoke with The Jerusalem Post explained that since there are no official relations between the two countries, Qatar has been operating strategically by creating and securing tight relationships with heads of all relevant Israeli intelligence organizations and institutions, refraining from closeness to its politically elected figures. WHILE WATCHING a soccer match on a large plasma screen in his beautiful tent, the senior official explained that Qatar is more beneficial for Israel at this time by not normalizing its relations with the Jewish state. He explained that by being in relationships with all of the Middle Eastern players and financially invested in many of them, they could use their leverage to promote the hostage deal and other essential issues that are under discussion. The country envisions itself as a mediator, actively contributing to global and regional peace efforts. This self-perception contrasts sharply with the skepticism and suspicion that often colors international views of Doha’s actions in the Middle East. Qatar is a gorgeous country. Its buildings are modern and designed down to the tiniest detail. Its excellent public transportation and organized streets, highways, and parking lots make it convenient for people from all backgrounds. Though I donned my kippah (skullcap) in every meeting, I refrained from doing so outside, but that was my decision. The next day, I was allowed entrance to the government headquarters in Doha, in a restricted area. I met a senior security official within , who is also involved in the hostage and ceasefire negotiations.  He assured us that though Hamas has declined to accept the current deal, “the ball is rolling,” and that the Americans have made it clear to Hamas that though it refrained from vetoing a motion against Israel at the United Nations Security Council, it “is interested in an immediate deal which would release all of the hostages as well as a ceasefire.” Many of the Qatari officials I have met reiterated the following mantra: “Qatar is Israel’s best ally in the Middle East.” The exact answers also occurred when asked if this was the case and why they hadn’t normalized their relations with Israel. “We have a strong strategic relationship evident by the close coordination between security apparatuses; not with normalization, since we are more valuable to Israel in this way.” During another three-hour interview, one of the ministers, who deals with security issues, explained: “I’ve been in touch with all of the heads of Mossad, Shin Bet, and COGAT for the past decade.” According to this minister, though former prime minister Naftali Bennett spoke out against transferring Qatari funds to Gaza, the funds continued after a short halt from Qatar’s side as a response to Bennett.  Then, after the situation in Gaza began to deteriorate, a meeting took place in Jerusalem, according to the minister, between representatives of Qatar, Israel, the US, and the United Nations in July 2021. “Israel told us that they want to continue the humanitarian support program of $100 monthly for [each of] the poorest families in Gaza.” Israel supplied the list of Gazans to receive the payment; the funds were immediately returned, and the UN distributed them. The minister also highlighted the fact that 16,000 Israelis attended the 2022 FIFA World Cup games in Qatar. “There was increased cooperation between our two countries, while then director-general of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry Alon Ushpiz “agreed to elevate the cooperation,” including discussions of the “maritime border with Lebanon.” The meetings I held in Doha were rare and fascinating. Many interviewees know Israel well, probably better than Western diplomats, which was surprising. Many question marks remain: If they are so optimistic about creating a new and normalized Middle East with all of the moderate countries, why are they allowing Al Jazeera, their official news channel, to report lies about Israel and Jews while ignoring the terrible by Hamas? (By the way, the highest-ranking officials in Qatar admitted, not for attribution, that Al Jazeera is a problem that needs to be solved.) There is also the issue of how Qatari funds influence American universities, where the real problem is very different than what most of Qatar’s haters think it is: it is the influence of American academics who spend many years in Qatar and therefore will teach Middle Eastern studies from a very Muslim focused lens, making it usually anti-Israeli.  Doha’s Education City has brought Western influence to higher education in the Gulf nation. That said, I can find many flaws and problematic behaviors of Jordanians and Egyptians, who aren’t the ideal neighboring countries and who incite against Jews and Israelis daily. The officials in Doha present a perspective where Qatar’s actions, whether as a mediator, a humanitarian aid provider or a host to controversial figures, align with a broader objective of fostering peace and stability, and challenge the common narratives and misconceptions about their role in Middle Eastern politics. All of the Qatari officials underscored that the humanitarian aid and financial support to Gaza, commonly misinterpreted, were in fact actions taken at the request of the Israeli and US governments. This aid was targeted specifically at the poorest families in the Strip, with Qatar meticulously transferring funds to recipients listed by COGAT. Further, the hosting of Hamas leaders in Doha, a contentious issue, was disclosed as a strategic decision also made at the request of the United States. According to these officials, this move was aimed at fostering dialogue and oversight rather than supporting the group’s ideologies or actions. But if Qatar wants Israel and the Jewish community to accept it, they also have to publicly take Israel’s side. They cannot publicly claim that Israel is performing genocide against the Palestinian people when they know that this isn’t true. Al Jazeera cannot broadcast lies about Israel and the Jewish people without being accounted for.  In addition, the Qatari public, as well as the Israeli one, needs to learn more about the other side. Otherwise, we will all be ignorant and uneducated about what is happening in the Middle East. We live in a complicated and sensitive region. Therefore, we need to judge our neighbors according to the complexity of the situation while not risking our security, but we also need to understand that things aren’t black or white. We will continue to seek dialogue and learn about our neighbors, so that our readers can make decisions based on information and facts rather than populistic opinions and trends. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-04

Qatar should have “kicked Hamas out of Qatar, closed their bank accounts, and said there would be no more funds for Gaza in the future,” absent a , a senior diplomatic official has told The Jerusalem Post. Only this kind of approach might have yielded a hostage deal a few weeks ago and kept the Qataris as the official moderators, as opposed to now, when Egypt may have displaced them, explained top Israeli sources. The senior diplomatic official said that Qatar needed to take a much harder line with Hamas than it took “as a moral matter because Hamas are religious fanatics of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Because Qatar failed to exercise any of the powerful pressure points that it had over Hamas in a serious manner, the “negotiations reached a dead end. So in recent weeks, the center of gravity shifted to Egypt. This is the moment when Qatar gave up ‘their ace in the hole.’ And they are very upset” to have lost out to Egypt as the mediator, “but there is nothing to do, they failed to nail down this last deal.” Going backward to before October 7 and the early stage of the war, “Relations before negotiations over the hostage deal were good. They got much warmer after the first deal” of November 23-30. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar December 20, 2023. (credit: IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) “Sheikh [Qatari Prime Minister] Muhammad [bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani] is very serious, and you can do business with him. He provided a starting point” where the endpoint was complex, said a top Israeli official. At a certain point, Israel started to become impatient with the Qataris' slow pace, given that “we are talking about people’s lives. It is confusing, and they can see things in terms of being objects, and it can take forever,” said sources. An Israeli source said that “he succeeded in the first negotiations. Relations were very close, and Egypt was very much in the background as a secondary player” during that earlier period. However, during the recent failed negotiations leading into Ramadan, a senior diplomatic source said, “Qatar tried to close a deal, but there was no deal to be had on the table.” They had two weeks of talks during which “they could have played all of their cards” against Hamas, but they did not, and “they didn’t get a deal. I don’t know if they have accepted” the reality of their failure, however much they may have tried to help, said the source. Sources said that Al Thani recently felt sick either because of the Ramadan fast or because he took losing the hostage negotiations file very hard. A senior diplomatic source said, “He understands he failed. We switched to Egypt. They are moving the negotiations well; I am not sure; they may still fail, but they are moving it forward.” “They didn’t see the urgency. They were acting as if it was a negotiation over buying an apartment. Still, we need to get the hostages back after several months of living in tunnels with insufficient food” and horrible conditions. “The bottom line is he didn’t seal the deal,” said top Israeli sources. Sources said that they had told Al Thani, “We will use the UAE and the Saudis to go into Gaza before we use your money” for the future rebuilding plans if they did not come through with another hostage deal. Typically, Al Thani responds to such threats, saying that “the UAE and the Saudis won’t pay, so you will come back to me.” A source said, “Maybe we will end up asking, but you [Qatar] will still be the last in line.” Sources said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and UAE leader Mohammad Bin Zayid have deep pockets and will eventually send funds where they should go. They said that “maybe the Saudis and the UAE may not love the idea of investing in Gaza, but some nice words from the US, the EU, and Israel, and they will do it. It’s not even considered significant money for them. It’s not significant money for Qatar, either. Can I guarantee it? I cannot guarantee it.” Regarding the Qatari claim that if they kicked out Hamas, the terror group would quickly move to Turkey without losing anything, a senior diplomatic source said, “The best comeback for a serial violator of international law is: someone else will sell to me.” “So send them to Turkey. Then Turkey will need to kick them out. These are monsters. I am not sure even Turkey will take them now because [after October 7] they will harm Turkey’s reputation.” Further, the diplomatic official stated, “Until now, Qatar wasn’t saying” that it could not expel Hamas because they could go to Turkey; rather, Qatar was saying if Hamas is expelled, “there won’t be negotiations. Before, maybe this was true. But already now, we can do negotiations without them, with Egypt, even if they expel Hamas.” A source said, “They are a group of monsters. They approved mass killing, raping, and burning to death. I do not understand how they [Qatar] can host them.” “ for many years. It cannot be ignored. The Qatari money was also used for good things and also for evil things,” said a top Israeli official.  In addition, top Israeli officials expressed frustration that Ismail Haniyeh and the other Hamas officials in Qatar are no longer the real powers. Given that Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar has overwhelming power over whether there is a deal, and he is in Gaza, the “advantage” of being close to Hamas leaders who are out of the loop is no longer an advantage. This could also connect to the process in which Hamas’s Doha officials needed 36-48 hours each time to hear back from Sinwar, making them and Qatar seem less useful. The Qataris told The Jerusalem Post’s Zvika Klein that there was a deal on the table back in October for a return of all of the Israeli hostages even before Israel invaded Gaza. Essentially, the Israeli response would be not to take this claim very seriously. Top Israeli sources said that at most, maybe there was an offer to return Israeli civilians, but definitely not an offer to return all of the hostages, which include captured Israeli soldiers.   Moreover, a senior diplomatic official implied that the premise of any Qatar-Hamas offer in October would have been a partial return of Israeli hostages for thousands of Palestinian security prisoners while leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza as if it had not just killed 1,200 mostly Israeli civilians and invaded 22 Israeli border towns and cities. In contrast, the Israeli government would not have entertained any deal that would leave Hamas and all of its military threats in place, given that in the early days after October 7, the Israeli messaging was that it would “annihilate Hamas” (the more moderate verbiage of toppling, or merely “dismantling” came weeks or months later). There is still some confusion about Qatar’s claim of making a viable offer to return Israeli hostages already in early-mid October. Some officials said that they were not sure if such an offer was even made because Israel was in crisis mode, for several days still repelling invaders, then preparing for an invasion, and there were so many issues being handled. They said, “I don’t think there was a negotiation or there was any offer we could accept. Think about the situation in Israel at the time. How could we discuss this?” with Qatar about a deal that would have left Hamas in place as the rulers of Gaza as if nothing had happened. In other words, the idea that Israel might have “missed” a viable deal is viewed by these sources as a convenient Qatari fiction.   As further proof of the Israeli narrative, a senior diplomatic official said, “If they had kept their side of the November deal, then Hamas would have gotten a few more days of a respite. But after only seven days, they proved they were two-faced. If we had not kept up crazy pressure on them that whole week, things could have gone back to the war each day.” The bottom line from the Israeli side is that given that 1) Hamas allowed the November deal to fall apart on the eighth day, rather than extending it; 2) Hamas tried several times to tamper with the deal even before then; 3) and that this was after Israel had much more leverage by having taken Gaza City, there was no way Hamas would have followed through on a deal back in October (when Israel had no leverage and had lost its deterrence reputation) that would be qualitatively close to what it agreed to later. The bottom line was that sources did not think that Hamas would have agreed if Israel had offered additional days of no attacks for another 30 hostages being freed. “And I don’t think it was close to what we are discussing today,” said a source. Going forward, a senior diplomatic official expressed hope that there could be a new to return 40 hostages in around three weeks – “but this is just a hope, and not a promise,” they said. No Israeli sources will go on record, but several top Israeli and US sources have confirmed to The Jerusalem Post off the record that if Israel gets back another 40 hostages out of the more than 130 in Hamas’s hands, there probably would only be another 30-40 left to get back, with the other 50-60 no longer alive. A variety of Mossad, IDF, Shin Bet, and Prime Minister's Office officials have been involved in the hostages issue. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-04

In the wake of Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein’s exclusive visit and meetings with a series of top officials in Qatar, there have been a number of counter-perspectives shared with the Post compared to what the Qataris told Klein. These perspectives can be roughly divided into three categories: 1) those who see the Qataris as sometimes problematic but real potential allies; 2) those who see the Qataris as highly problematic, but as still critical interlocutors due to pragmatic realities; and 3) those who see the Qataris as a profound problem which must be cut off. Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen roughly represents the first school of thought. He would candidly admit to having excellent personal relations with the Qataris, having gone “glamping” [glamorous desert camping] with their top officials, and told the Post this week that they have been and could be useful for regaining Israeli hostages from Hamas. It would seem that Cohen also thinks that the current negotiations with Qatar could have had better outcomes if they had been handled more cleverly. At the end of October, it was revealed that both current Mossad director David Barnea and his predecessor and former sponsor, Cohen, had visited Qatar to try to negotiate the hostages’ release. Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani delivers an annual speech during the opening of the 52nd session of the Shura advisory council in Doha, Qatar, October 24, 2023. (credit: Amiri Diwan/Handout via REUTERS) Criticized for his role on the issue, Cohen told the Post and publicly responded in other interviews that he was authorized by Netanyahu himself, and had met with Gal Hirsch, government coordinator for the captives and the missing. Additional top diplomatic sources confirmed that Cohen had acted on the authority of the prime minister. The second school of thought could be represented by Dr. Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, who also worked on Israel’s National Security Council on the Qatar file under three prime ministers. He told the Post, “As long as there are kidnapped hostages, you don’t need to be a genius – dealing with Qatar is not a question of a privilege of yes or no. “We need them,” he said, adding some colorful metaphors about how Qatar has Israel in a highly vulnerable position. “With Al Jazeera, we are trying to push them into a corner... we are not trying to get rid of them, though also this I do not think is effective,” he stated, referring to a recent Israeli law that might lead the government to ending Al Jazeera operations in Israel. In addition, Guzansky said, “We would be very happy if Qatar did not support Hamas and not do” all kinds of negative activities. “I also want world peace.” Right now none of these things are possible.” Further, “after the hostages are freed, Israel can carry out a full revision of its relations with Qatar. It can carry out a deep probe into them and consult experts, with the National Security Council leading a policy review of a restart in relations with Qatar. “But as long as there are hostages, what is the alternative?” he asked rhetorically. “There were calls to declare Qatar an enemy, to attack Qatar, to kill the Hamas leaders . This was foolish and caused damage,” said the former NSC official. Next, he said, “We need to be patient and smart. Instead of being ‘right,’ we need to be smart. Qatar is a problem and will continue to be a problem. They are super significant to the US” because of their geographic location, where the US has its largest base in the world outside of the American continent; because of their diplomatic muscle; and because of their natural gas resources. Qatar has also helped Washington with other negotiations. “They helped the US get out of Afghanistan. Qatar is also a facilitator of dialogue with Iran,” which has been a major issue for the US at times and may be again in the future. “Every bastard you want to speak to.” Moreover, the “bargaining chips which the US has are large, but the US has a complex situation. Qatar is also the foreign country that buys the most weapons from the US.... Also, the Europeans are very deep into Qatar because of Russia” and the Russia-Ukraine War impact on the availability of natural gas for energy supplies. He said China is also a big supporter of Qatar to maintain energy supplies, adding Qatar “is even more important now than it was” before the Russia war. “One month after , the US signed a deal to upgrade its base in Qatar,” he said, to hammer the point home. “From this perspective, we [Israel] are not even in their league. A struggle against Qatar can cause damage. We want to start another front with another country right now – why?” in the middle of a multifront war when Israel’s international support has hit historic lows, he asked. According to Guzansky, “Crushing Hamas is the best way to stop the relationship between Qatar and Hamas. If Hamas would be toppled, then there is no dilemma. They will need to drop out, or they will need to support the Palestinian Authority. They are very pragmatic and not ideological. They use Hamas as a tool.” In contrast, he said, Turkey is more ideologically similar to and committed to Hamas. “Let the UAE go into the vacuum. They are better than Qatar” and could replace it. But so far “their [Qatar’s] support for Hamas has led to success with the US. [President Joe] Biden calls the emir of Qatar so many times and praises Qatar about how helpful they are.” In addition, he said, “Hamas is not gone, so Qatar can keep the influence it wants. Hamas is weaker, but will continue to be an address in Gaza” because, so far, Israel has not succeeded in completely eliminating Hamas. “Getting others into Gaza,” such as the UAE or the Saudis, “depends on crushing Hamas. If Hamas is not gone, then Qatar will continue to be the financial pipeline.” Incidentally, although Barnea has close relations with top Qatari officials, he is probably closer to the Guzansky camp in his broader view of the Qataris. The third school of thought would be represented by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. According to Schanzer, “There was a major missed opportunity with this war to hold Qatar to account. This was the moment when Israel should have cut ties. The US should have forced changes in policy and should have forced the Qataris to remove Hamas. “It should’ve been done, and they didn’t do it.” Also, he said the US could have started “to address the [Qatari] terror financing problem, which we have ignored for too long. “Instead, they became a partner to the US and, to a lesser extent, with the Israelis, to solve the hostage problem,” he recounted in frustration. Next, he said, “They were successful initially,” with the November 23-30 hostage deal, but “they have failed multiple times since then. “Is this truly a failure, or part of their strategy to string this along? That is accompanied by the question of whether Al Jazeera has been providing military support to Hamas in the form of relaying information gleaned by correspondents on the ground. We are aware of individual journalists who also double as Hamas fighters. All of these people are on the Qatari payroll,” said Schanzer. Further, he said, “The biggest moment when the US failed was the decision to reengage the Qataris regarding the Al Udeid Air Base extension. They did this in the middle of the hostage negotiations, in the middle of a crisis. “I would have said that the US will re-sign the agreement [for keeping the base in Qatar], but only after the return of the hostages. That would have been an excellent use of American leverage. Instead, the US gave the Qataris what they wanted and when they wanted it,” he lamented. Moreover, he stated, “Israel themselves still appear to be in a fight between Yossi Cohen and Dadi [David] Barnea over who has the Qatari file. Israel is still treating the Qataris with respect. They covet the relationship with the Qataris. That needs to change. “I don’t believe any of the underlying systemic problems have been fixed,” he warned. In addition, he explained, “If I were making decisions for Israel or the US, I would end the Qatari negotiations channel now. I would force Hamas to work through other channels, possibly Egypt, maybe Europeans. There is no reason why another country can’t do this. “Qatar presiding over this is insane. They are sponsors of Hamas; they are not dispassionate brokers. They have been funding Hamas at $30 million per month since 2018. They are not the people to trust right now, as Israel makes a last-ditch effort to get the hostages released before ,” he declared. “Hamas is just a small piece of the problem of Qatar,” Schanzer said. “They [Qatar] are sponsors of the Taliban. They provided support to operatives of al-Qaeda and ISIS. They are sponsors of the Muslim Brotherhood. They are an Islamist country, and they are as corrupt as any country I’ve seen. “They bribed their way to buying the World Cup. They provide massive amounts of cash to the US and to European countries – this is the relationship that needs to be questioned, not just by Israel and the US, but around the world,” he said. He cautioned, “They like to play the role of arsonist and firefighter. They create the problems and then claim to solve them.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-01

spoke on Monday with Coalition Whip Ofir Katz to ensure the closure of Qatari state-funded news outlet, Al Jazeera, in Israel as soon as the Knesset passed the law enabling such an action, the Likud stated. The law, which would enable the prime minister to shut down Al Jazeera's broadcasts in Israel, is set to undergo its second and third reading in the Knesset on Monday evening. Netanyahu, who is recovering from an operation, said he will act immediately to close Al Jazeera according to the procedure laid out in the law. According to the law, if the prime minister becomes convinced that content broadcast by foreign media "harms in a real way" the nation's security, the communications minister can bring a resolution to the government to block that media's television broadcast in Israel, shut down its offices, seize equipment used for its broadcasts, and block its website under certain conditions. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi led the government's effort to pass the law, after reports emerged that the Shin Bet and IDF had warned that Al Jazeera broadcasts were revealing the location of military forces, and endangering soldiers. AL JAZEERA headquarters in Doha, Qatar. (credit: Imad Creidi/Reuters) The law included a number of hurdles due to the concern over a chilling effect on foreign media and harm to press freedom: First, in order for the government to approve the move, all of Israel's security agencies must provide an opinion and present it to the government, including the "factual foundations" that prove that there is "real harm" to national security; second, the decision will only apply for 45 days, needs to be reapproved every 45 days, and expires on July 31; third, the decision must be brought before the president or vice president of a regional court within 24 hours, and the judges have three days to rule on "changing" the decision or limiting the period of its applicability. Knesset legal advisors insisted on the approval of a judge, arguing that if this is not part of the bill, it will be deemed unconstitutional by . Karhi and other members of the coalition argued during the legislative process that the judicial system should not be given this power, but eventually agreed to leave the provision in the bill's final version. The opposition party United Right, which left the government in March, announced that it would support the bill. MK Ze'ev Elkin said that it was "prohibited to enable a body that disseminates blatant anti-Israeli propaganda," and that it was "too bad that the prime minister delayed closing the station at the beginning of the war." MKs from the two Israeli Arab parties, Hadash-Ta'al and Ra'am, opposed the bill during the debate in the Knesset plenum, arguing that the reason Israel wanted to block Al Jazeera's Israeli broadcasts was in order to hide the extent of destruction and civilian casualties in Gaza. "Citizens of Israel, they are trying put you under a cognitive siege… to block information about things being done in your name," said Hadash Ta'al MK Aida Touma Sliman. The government in December approved similar emergency regulations that would have temporarily shut down Al Jazeera, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly decided not to do so in order for it not to negatively affect being facilitated by Qatar. Hadash-Ta'al MK Ayman Odeh argued that the prime minister agreed this time to shut it down despite ongoing negotiations in order to delay a hostage deal that could threaten the stability of his government. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-27

Hamas has released a recording of a speech made by , arab media reported on Wednesday. "Our people in Jordan and Lebanon, in Egypt, Algeria, the Maghreb, in Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and in all parts of the Arab and Islamic world," Deif called to the Arab world.  “Begin marching today, now and not tomorrow, towards Palestine, and do not let borders, regulations, or restrictions deprive you of the honor of jihad and participation in the liberation of ," Deif continued. "Go forth, light and heavy, and strive with your money and your lives in the path of God," the Hamas leader added. According to the report, the speech is dated to the beginning of . However, The Jerusalem Post could not independently confirm the date of the recording. Former head of the Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, talks during an interview with Reuters in Doha, Qatar January 30, 2020. (credit: NASEEM ZEITOON/REUTERS) Earlier on Wednesday, Khaled Mashaal, former Hamas leader and senior official, remarked on the hostage deal negotiations at an event for women in Jordan, according to Hamas's official Telegram channel. "In the negotiations, we insist on stopping the aggression, withdrawing from Gaza, returning the displaced to their places, especially in northern Gaza, and providing all necessary relief, shelter, reconstruction, and ending the siege," Mashaal said, reiterating the terror group's stance earlier this week. He added that Hamas would not release any hostages unless it attains "these goals." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-25

After more than 24 hours of letting the story run freely, deleted the page featuring their former story, which accused Israeli soldiers of allegedly perpetrating rape against women during the IDF’s latest excursion against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who barricaded themselves inside the former hospital-gone-terror headquarters. Although the Qatari mouthpiece has yet to officially refer to the retraction, all content related to the allegation has been reportedly deleted. Al Jazeera columnist and former director Yasser Abuhilalah also tweeted, admitting that “It was revealed through Hamas investigations that the story of the rape of women in Al-Shifaa hospital was fabricated… The woman who spoke about rape justified her exaggeration and incorrect talk by saying that the goal was to arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood,” adding critically that “As if more than thirty thousand martyrs, ninety thousand wounded, about a million displaced people, and comprehensive destruction were not enough!” ◾️◾️تبين من خلال تحقيقات حركة حماس إن قصة اغتصاب النساء في مختلقة، طبعا العدو لم يتورع عن جريمة إبادة . ◾️◾️بررت السيدة التي تحدثت عن الاغتصاب مبالغتها وحديثها غير الصحيح بأن الهدف أستثارة حمية الأمة ونخوتها ! وكأن أكثر من ثلاثين ألف شهيد وتسعين ألف جريح ونحو… Jihad Khelles, a pro-Hamas preacher from Gaza, also tweeted that it became evident that there was no proven evidence for the events and that the ‘witness’ told a story that she had heard and not witnessed, also adding that “this creates panic and fear” and “makes [Palestinians] feel despair and frustration at a time when we are most in need for stability and reassurance.”  AL JAZEERA headquarters in Doha, Qatar: The suit that Al Jazeera has filed at the ICC could shine an embarrassing spotlight on the network itself, says the writer. (credit: Imad Creidi/Reuters) The original story published by Al Jazeera featured a “testimony” by Jamila Al-Hessi, a Gazan woman who claimed that while she was under siege in the area of the hospital complex, she witnessed IDF soldiers “ and burning entire families alive.” The fake testimony went viral, with many expressing their rage at Israel and at what they deemed Arab failure to protect the honor of Palestinian women, even asking where Hamas and the resistance had gone. However, Israeli news blogger and Middle East expert Abu Ali Express also reported that the viral fake testimony also had unexpected reverse ripple effects, leading many Gazans to flee their homes in the northern Gaza strip southwards, which may explain the unusual event of a Hamas investigation into the details. Al-Hessi was interviewed live on Al Jazeera, where she admitted that she was not in the Shifaa hospital and alleged that she had witnessed what happened in the complex, including women being raped, kidnapped, and killed during the incursion, describing what she had “witnessed” as “more than an action film.” She also claimed that they had been calling for aid for six days, adding, “who is the Red Cross? Are they Jews, our enemies?” also accusing the organization sees itself as “more than us [Gazans]” and wondering how come they have food and water, but the Gazan citizens don't. The Qatari royal family founded Al Jazeera, which has served for decades as a mouthpiece for the regime and provides lavish asylum for the leaders of Hamas, a group designated as a terror organization by the US, Canada, the EU, Israel, and other nations. The regime's Arabic-speaking language outlet is known for spreading antisemitic rhetoric and holocaust denial, as well as operating a Western-facing outlet, AJ+, which reportedly propagates divisive and inflammatory content while flouting registration under the FARA act for several years. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-19

A major Rafah military operation would make it difficult to continue in Doha, Qatar warned as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to the region to advance a deal. “Any operation in Rafah right now will be a humanitarian catastrophe,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Made Al Ansari told reporters.There is no direct link between the and a pending IDF Rafah military operation, but Israel has used the threat of one as a pressure lever to advance a deal to secure the release of the remaining 134 captives. People call on the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza, outside the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. October 19, 2023. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)Ansari spoke with reporters one day after serious talks resumed in Qatar, which included an Israeli delegation led by Mossad Chief David Barnea. The Mossad chief returned to Israel Tuesday and according to KAN News, he updated the war cabinet that night.His team remained, to continue to hammer out the and that of Hamas with officials from Qatar and Egypt.Both countries are mediating a deal, that would see some 40 hostages freed in exchange for a six-week pause to the war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists.The process is expected to be plodding and could take several weeks.Ansari said that he was “cautiously optimistic” but noted that “It's still too early to claim any particular success.” The most important indicator of progress was that the talks were ongoing, he explained.The conversation at this point is over the humanitarian pause and what is expected to be three phases of an agreement.He clarified that the issue of a permanent ceasefire would come up only in the second phase.Right now, he said, the focus is on the first phase and the humanitarian pause.During a press conference in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he planned to travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week.  On his agenda was a “push for an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.  “As you know, we’re intensely engaged on that every single day. We’re doing everything we can to push that forward and to reach an agreement,” he said. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-15

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a in Southern Gaza, that will also include the evacuation of civilians, his office said on Friday after the war cabinet met in the early afternoon. The Rafah operation has been one of the levers Israel has used to pressure Hamas to make a deal for the return of the remaining 134 captives held in the enclave. The international community has opposed the move fearing for the fate of the over 1.3 million Palestinians in the area of Rafah, many of whom fled there to escape bombing in northern Gaza. The US has insisted that Israel must present a credible and realistic plan to protect civilians in Rafah, with US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby saying on Thursday that the Biden administration has yet to see such a plan. At the same time as the war cabinet appeared to advance the possibility of a Rafah operation the Prime Minister’s Office said that an Israeli delegation is also expected to leave for after the security cabinet discusses the government’s position on the issue. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Palestinian group Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar December 20, 2023. (credit: Iran's Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS) It underscored that about the talks is still far-fetched. Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, all of whom had hoped to broker a deal by last Sunday or Monday continued to push forward with their efforts, as they appeared to have past a hurdle on Friday as noon prayers on the Temple Mount passed relatively smoothly. An outbreak of violence on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram, al-Sharif could have impacted the possibility of a deal.  Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi said he hoped there could be a deal within a few days as visited a police academy on Friday. "We wish within a few days at most to reach a ceasefire and not to have a negative development that could affect the situation," Sisi said in comments recorded during his visit. "We are talking about reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, meaning a truce,” Sisi said, adding that the deal would allow for an increased distribution of humanitarian assistance and enable Palestinians who sought shelter in the south to return home. The US has persistently said that the deal on the table involved a six-week pause to the war and the release of 40 hostages, primarily the female, informed, and elderly captives. Israel would also be asked to release Palestinian security prisons and terrorists it has held in jail. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-02

In the wake of the on Israel, it’s imperative to confront a harsh reality: Qatar’s continued support for terrorist organizations like Hamas directly undermines global efforts to combat extremism and threatens the security of both the United States and its allies. As one of the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism, Qatar’s dual role as a major American ally and a financial lifeline to terrorist groups demands immediate scrutiny and action. For decades, Qatar has given money and protection to the leaders of terrorist organizations like . Currently, Qatar hosts the leaders of Hamas, the terrorist organization behind the October 7 attack on Israel. Qatar and Hamas are both adherents of the . Qatar has given Hamas billions of dollars due to this shared affinity. Although Qatari leaders deny that they knew about the October 7 attack in advance, without their financing, the attacks would never have been possible. Qatar is home to the largest US military facility in the Middle East. The al-Udeid Air Base holds United States Central Command, the strategic hub for all US military activity in the Middle East, and over 10,000 American soldiers. Qatar officially holds the security designation of “major non-NATO ally,” a term for 18 countries friendly to the US which, along with Israel, includes nations such as Japan, Jordan, and Australia. Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani delivers an annual speech during the opening of the 52nd session of the Shura advisory council in Doha, Qatar, October 24, 2023. (credit: Amiri Diwan/Handout via REUTERS) The US cannot afford to provide Qatar with that level of trust. Qatar is vastly wealthy, has a tiny landmass and population, and sits directly between Saudi Arabia and Iran, bitter rivals. Qatar survives by spreading its wealth and playing both sides. This strategy has previously backfired on Qatar. In 2017, Saudi Arabia cited Qatar’s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and terror organizations as its reason for cutting ties with Doha and blockading Qatar. The US military presence ensured that Saudi Arabia would not attack Qatar. Doha turned to Turkey and Iran for imports. Ultimately, Saudi Arabia lifted the blockade in anticipation of Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup. The 2022 World Cup bolstered Qatar’s strategy of “sportswashing,” i.e., laundering its reputation through sports, which Qatar has pursued aggressively for almost two decades. The strategy was primarily executed through Qatar Sports Investments, founded in 2005. Qatar quietly invested $4 billion in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the NHL’s Washington Capitals parent company, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. Qatar was FC Barcelona’s main shirt sponsor between 2011-17 and is a majority owner of the soccer club Paris Saint-Germain. Qatar’s influence in Western cultural institutions goes far beyond sports. Since 2001, Qatar has donated billions to American universities. These include prestigious universities like Northwestern, Georgetown, Cornell, and Carnegie Mellon, all of which have affiliations and campuses in Qatar in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Qatar’s money comes with its exertion of soft power; in return, the universities hold their noses and compromise their values. IT IS no coincidence that these payments began almost immediately after 9/11. Qatar knew that its role in supporting terror would be scrutinized and proactively moved to influence public opinion in the US. Qatar’s public relations and diplomacy have been skillful, to say the least. Recently, news that an alleged Qatari spy operation targeted Republican lawmakers was released. Nonetheless, a day later, envoys from the Biden administration went to Doha to continue negotiations on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The emir of Qatar has the ear of the president of the United States. Qatar is hailed as “being on the front and center of global diplomacy.” It is credited for helping to negotiate the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the accompanying release of Israeli hostages. Current US strategy holds that Qatar is useful as a go-between between American interests and terrorist organizations. However, Qatar is not an independent third party. Through its generous financial support, it is directly responsible for the atrocities that Hamas and similar groups commit. The US cannot afford to wait for another September 11 or October 7 to wake up to the dangers of having vital military and diplomatic interests in a country that houses the leaders and financiers of terrorist organizations bent on destroying the United States and Israel. If Qatar does not end its support of Hamas, the US must condemn and sanction Qatari leaders and institutions. The US must increase oversight of Qatari finances and freeze funds that are being used for terror. The Biden administration must be willing to use all its leverage, including the renewal of the al-Udeid Air Base, to force Qatar to abandon Hamas. Qatar believes it has free rein to act as it pleases because of its strategic location and role as a regional interlocutor. However, the US cannot trust Qatar to be a neutral actor in the context of a war that Qatar itself helped to bring about. For the sake of American and Israeli security, Qatar must be held to account for its sponsorship of terror. The writer is director of the Middle East Forum and a former official in the Israel Foreign and Defense Ministries. ...قراءة المزيد

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