RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Trump administration is being sent early warnings of the priorities of its possible “partner,” Qatar, for the future of the Gaza Strip.

“His Excellency” Mohammed al-Rumaihi, Qatar’s former ambassador to the United States, and former Minister of Municipality and Environment, noted on July 5 that he is concerned about “keep[ing] the Palestinian cause alive – and its people,” and slammed Israel:

“No major capital—neither Beijing, nor Moscow, nor Washington—has labelled the Gaza campaign as ‘systematic killing,’ let alone moved to punish Israel under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.”

You are not left to guess which side of the conflict he is on.

He goes on to suggest “political engagement…. in negotiation rooms and policy forums.”

Gosh, why didn’t anyone ever think of that?! Unfortunately — one supposes deliberately — al-Rumaihi, does not mention what “political engagement” means. Does it mean negotiations, as in the calamitous Oslo Accords, which legitimized the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership, committed the Palestinians to no further terrorism, and, as there were no mechanisms to enforce compliance, which they violated almost immediately? Does it mean elections, as in the 2006 election that brought the terrorist group Hamas to power in the Gaza Strip? What al-Rumaihi seems to mean is that endless talking at least serves to keeps his ball in play and delays the possibility of the “wrong” outcome — one that will “punish Israel.”

Qatar has, after all, invested roughly up to $1.8 billion in Hamas since Palestinians elected it to govern the Gaza Strip in 2006. Qatar’s leaders are also, through their Al Jazeera broadcasting empire, the primary mouthpiece for the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, the font of all the radical Islamic terrorist groups. Its motto is:

“Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

The Trump administration would do well to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Such a message might slow down the supporters of terrorism, or at least take some of the fun out of it for them.

Qatar, therefore, may understandably feel obligated to protect its client Hamas, as it successfully did for Afghanistan’s Taliban, another of its beneficiaries. Qatar “helpfully” mediated in talks between the Taliban and the US — probably to make sure that the Taliban won — as it did. The Taliban’s victory over the US, under the auspices of US President Joe Biden’s unceremonious surrender and the US forces’ flight, left the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, and swiftly rolling back all the advances, especially for women’s rights, that the US took 20 years to build.

Meetings currently appear to be underway to create a possible “consortium” of Arab and Muslim nations to govern the Gaza Strip – basically leaving in place many of the same radical Islamic adherents of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, of which it is an offshoot, as before — most likely to make sure that Israel can be attacked again in the future as many times as necessary to ensure its extinction.

The extremely tempting short-term view would be that Qatar’s involvement in Gaza would not only save the US much of the expense of rebuilding the enclave, but also include a sweetheart deal: enormous contracts, presumably paid for by Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, to some of the real estate developers negotiating the arrangement.

The long term view, unfortunately, could not be darker for Israel and the US. Both countries could soon find themselves once again caught in the middle of the inevitable blow-up when, Qatar, the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism and Hamas’s long-term patron, protects its clients in the Gaza Strip as devotedly as it protected the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It is no secret that Qatar has been the major funder of effectively every Islamic terrorist group, including ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Taliban. According to Udi Levy, a former senior official of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, who dealt with economic warfare against terrorist organizations, “Qatar is at the top of funding terrorism worldwide, even more than Iran.”

Qatar’s pattern seems to be supporting radical Islamic terrorist groups, then offering to “mediate” between them and countries trying to persuade them not to be terrorist groups. Qatar is hardly a neutral negotiator. According to the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI):

“Qatar has sustained the Taliban terrorist organization for years, hosted their leadership in Doha, and enabled them to take over Afghanistan’s democratically elected secular government of Ashraf Ghani in 2021, during which 13 American soldiers were killed.”

Egypt has also been mentioned as one of the possible countries to be included in this “consortium.” There is probably no surer way to preserve the continuation of a terrorist state in Gaza than to have Egypt once again resume its bonanza of overseeing tunnels under the border between Israel and Egypt, to smuggle weapons and possibly terrorists back into Gaza, then sit by to watch Israel attacked again in a few years.

President Donald Trump — whose initial instincts are often perfect until “advisors” try to talk him out of them – originally suggested an American-built “Riviera” on the Gaza Strip. Combined with a military base, it would greatly serve the interests of the United States as well as Israel – similarly to how the US stations the forward HQ of Central Command and Air Forces Central Command at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, to protect the oil-rich peninsula. American forces at Al-Udeid, the largest US military base in the Middle East, effectively serve as Qatar’s private air-force. Qatar might even have snookered some US bureaucrats into thinking that they are doing the US a favor by allowing its troops to be there.

A high priority for Israel is having Hamas release all 50 of the hostages it is still holding — 20 possibly alive and the rest deceased. Trump could expedite their release by informing Qatar that unless they are all set free in one week, the US will move its forces from Al-Udeid to the territory of a solid ally, such as the United Arab Emirates. What about the forward HQ of Central Command on the Gaza Strip?

Qatar’s leaders know full well that If the US ever were to relocate its forces from Qatar, according to John Mirisch, chief policy officer of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, it is Qatar that has “everything to lose.”

“The ultimatum would include the U.S. revoking Qatar’s non-NATO ally status (which never should have been granted in the first place); it would include sanctions on Qatar, such as freezing Qatari assets and personal sanctions on Qatar’s royal family, including those who own palatial mansions in Bel Air; it would include the threat of shutting down and moving CENTCOM’s Al-Udeid airbase, perhaps to Bahrain or Saudi Arabia; it would include banning Al-Jazeera, which has already been banned in a number of countries, as well as in the Palestinian Authority.”

Trump’s original idea of a US “Riviera” in Gaza, stems from an “America First” point of view, may be the most constructive way to successfully deter further military engagement for the United States in the Middle East.

At the moment, however, it is crucial not to allow Qatar, Egypt or any Arab state to get anywhere near Gaza. “His Excellency” al-Rumaihi from Qatar is clearly telling you so.

Robert Johnson is based in Europe and the Middle East