Qatar and Al Jazeera are serving Hamas - opinion

The hostility of Qatar is bewildering. 

A small country with some 300,000 citizens and over two million migrant workers and expatriates, some 28 years ago, it established unofficial economic relations with Israel, and former prime minister Shimon Peres was invited to visit.

Ostensibly, it would only be a matter of time until full diplomatic relations were established between Qatar and Israel.

Instead, the emirate chose to back radical Islamic terrorism, leading to the great diplomatic crisis of 2017, when Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, banning it from their sovereign territories, by air, land, and sea.

Nevertheless, three years later, these countries lifted their embargo. 

Background behind the Emirate of Qatar

The emirate of Qatar was founded in the 19th century by the Al Thani family, which controls it to this day. 

In the 1930s, it became a British protectorate until gaining its independence in 1971. Qatar is a Muslim country with a legal system based on Sharia law. 

Its gas reserves are among the largest in the world, allowing for the emirate’s accelerated development, thanks to its abundant wealth. 

Doha has chosen to diversify its investments, spreading them among banks and huge international commercial companies; making generous donations, and buying up chairs at leading universities in the United States. 

In recent months, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) has published a series of studies concerning the Qatari funding of American universities in the US, titled, “Hijacking Higher Education, Qatar, The Muslim Brotherhood and Texas A&M: Buying Nuclear Research and Student Information.” 

Qatari money allows the emirate great influence on the curricula of American universities via hundreds of joint projects with universities in Doha. 

The ISGAP report reveals how Qatar transfers huge sums to the West while evading required monetary supervision. 

It claims that billions are transferred to higher education without disclosing Qatar as the source of the funds, substantiating the connection between the educational institution and the funding received. 

Social media platforms and networks across the world, viewed by tens of millions, serve as the propaganda arm of the small emirate. 

Qatar’s influence in Europe and the United States and its decision to support the Hamas terrorist organization have created a global problem that is tough to tackle, partially due to Qatar being an important American base, the agreement for which has been extended for an additional 10 years.

Universities in the US that have been funded by Qatar for years are today seeing the results of their blind-eye policy as lecturers and radical Islamic students have turned them into hotbeds of antisemitism. 

Israel also had its eyes closed and was unable to see the enormous significance of Qatar’s support for Hamas and its ideology.

ISRAEL HAS allowed hostile media outlet Al Jazeera to operate from its territory and broadcast on its media platforms, fueling hatred both among Arab Israelis and Arabs living in the territories of Judea and Samaria. 

Imagine if Nazi Germany had broadcast in Europe and the US during World War II, calling the Allied soldiers “murderers” while passing messages and instructions to the enemy. 

Kudos to Communications Minister Dr. Shlomo Karhi, who was successful, with a broad consensus, in passing the law preventing Qatar’s Al Jazeera network from broadcasting in Israel, and finally shutter the channel, albeit temporarily.

The law is aimed at prohibiting news outlets believed to jeopardize Israel’s national security during the Israel-Hamas war.

I am, however, at a loss to understand why the closure should be temporary, for a period of four months with an option to extend it. 

Is Al Jazeera expected to change its stance within the next few months and become a fan of Zion? 

Even the UAE, Egypt, and countries in Europe and the US do not allow incitement broadcasts from North Korea, Iran, Qatar, and China – and only in Israel has this been permitted. What is this double standard when it comes to Israel, especially during wartime? 

Why do the tongue-twisting members of the Knesset and certain journalists cling to “freedom of the press and expression” even in support of broadcasting lies about Israel? 

Qatar presents itself as a mediator able and willing to help Israel and Hamas reach an agreement regarding the release of the abductees, but at the same time, it provides a warm and welcoming home to senior Hamas terrorists. 

Recently, Doha hosted the Arab League, of which Qatar is a member.

Asa Al Nasr, a member of the Legislative Council of Qatar, spoke at the conference, attacking Israel’s very existence, praising the “Al Aqsa flood,” and threatening: “The swearing in of October was only the beginning, we will murder the Jews, we will destroy the Zionist entity, and there will never be peace.” 

Israel’s Channel 12 recently revealed documents demonstrating that neither the former head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, nor Israeli governments over the years, had clearly understood Qatar’s place in the terrorist space. 

Al Jazeera is the world’s largest brain-washing media organization functioning in the service of Hamas, under the auspices of Qatar – the generous host that supports terrorism. 

The writer is CEO of Radios 100fm, honorary consul of Nauru, vice dean of the consular staff, and vice president of the Ambassadors Club of Israel.