Lots of people have been duped by the Qataris. I was one of them.
For years, I watched as the Qataris spent billions of dollars in Gaza, a territory from which the Israelis had withdrawn in 2005 and which Hamas – a designated terrorist organization committed to the extermination of Israel – took over two years later.
But, I reasoned, surely the Qataris don't want their expensive buildings rubbled. And if their investments improve life for Gazans, couldn't that diminish Hamas's enthusiasm for jihad? And won't the Qataris counsel Hamas not to start wars likely to end catastrophically for Gazans?
I was naïve.
I suspect a similar naivety explains why, three years ago, President, Biden officially designated Qatar a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA). What had the Qataris done to deserve that honor, trust, and responsibility?
True, they had spent a lot of money on Al Udeid Air Base, utilized since late 2001 by the U.S. military. But last year, the Qataris forbid use of the facility for "attacks or wars...against countries in the region or beyond." Which raises a question: Is the purpose of this base to project American power or to defend Qatar?
Hamas's invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and its barbaric pogrom that followed presented Qataris with an opportunity to demonstrate that they deserved their MNNA stripes.
Senior Hamas officials were living in the Qatari capital of Doha as guests of the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He could have said to them: "Order the release of the American hostages immediately. In fact, tell your men in Gaza to release all the hostages, because abducting and torturing civilians is a serious war crime. You have one other option: It's a short ride from the five-star hotel where you've been living to our very best prison."
The Emir did no such thing.
Why not? I think there's a clue in the fact that after Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, was killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers last October, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the Emir's mother, posted on social media: "The name Yahya means the one who lives...He will live on and [Israel] will be gone."
Last week, President Trump was welcomed, with great pomp and circumstance, in three wealthy Arab Gulf states.
Saudi Arabia is effectively ruled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who aims to transform the kingdom into a great international center of commerce, culture, and Islamic heritage.
The United Arab Emirates joined the Abraham Accords that President Trump forged during his first term. The UAE practices and promotes religious tolerance.
In 2017, the Saudis and the Emiratis, along with Bahrain and Egypt, severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar because they knew it was supporting terrorist and extremist groups, including Hamas, Tehran-backed militias, and the Muslim Brotherhood which has since been banned by the Saudis and the Emiratis. The Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist supremacist organization intent on establishing a new global caliphate.
Four years later, relations were restored. But that was due to American pressure on the Saudis and the Emiratis, not any significant change in Qatari policies.
There are only about 330,000 Qatari citizens – about the same population as Pittsburgh, PA. The other three million residents of Qatar are expatriates and workers from such countries as India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.
Those Qataris possess more than 12% of the world's proven natural gas reserves.
For more than a quarter century, they have been using this extraordinary source of wealth to win friends and influence people.
In 1996, the regime founded the media network Al Jazeera, which soon became a force in the Middle East and well beyond.
"Day in and day out," wrote the late great scholar Fouad Ajami in The New York Times in November 2001, "Al Jazeera deliberately fans the flames of Muslim outrage." He added that the satellite television station, "may not officially be the Osama bin Laden Channel, but he is clearly its star."
For years, Al Jazeera featured Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood ideologue. Among those he praised: Imad Mughniyah, the terrorist mastermind behind the 1983 suicide bombings in Beirut in which 241 U.S. Marines were killed.
During the Iraq war, he issued a fatwa saying that the "abduction and killing of Americans in Iraq is a [religious] obligation.
Fast forward to 2022 when Belgium authorities arrested several current and former members of the European Parliament on charges of having accepted money or gifts from Qatar in exchange for influencing European Union decisions. The investigation into what's called "Qatargate" has revealed more than 300 alleged attempts to sway parliamentary actions.
And earlier this year, Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for accepting bribes from Qatar in exchange for using his political influence to benefit Doha.
As they used to say on late-night infomercials: "But wait! There's more!"
In the May issue of Commentary magazine, my colleague, Jonathan Schanzer, writes that Qatar "has gifted anywhere from $7 billion to $20 billion" to American universities. These investments have helped transform Middle East studies departments into Muslim Brotherhood indoctrination centers.
And in The Free Press last week, Frannie Block and Jay Solomon published an exposé headlined: "How Qatar Bought America."
Their in-depth investigation reveals that "Qatar has spent almost $100 billion to establish its legitimacy in Congress, universities, newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations."
They conclude: "What does Qatar want in return? A seat at the table. A shield from criticism. A U.S. foreign policy that serves Doha."
Duped no more, I now understand that implies a foreign policy that serves the Muslim Brotherhood. I'm confident our Saudi and Emirati friends would agree.