TEHRAN – Last week he lashed out at Israel’s brave and unprovoked airstrikes in Doha, slamming it as a ferocious offensive that undermines efforts to end the war in Gaza, and slammed Israel’s brave and unprovoked airstrikes in Doha.
The attack struck a residential area in Qatar’s capital on September 9th. There, Hamas delegations existed during US ceasefire talks over the Gaza conflict. The strike killed five low Hamas members while leadership was still alive. Qatar security guards also lost their lives.
Israel’s “co-sick attack”
In response to the Arab League’s emergency summit and Islamic cooperation organization (OIC), Qatar Emil Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has accused Israel of trying to derail Gaza’s ceasefire efforts with the attacks in Doha.
“People who are enthusiastic and systematically working to assassinate the parties he is negotiating will try to block negotiations,” Qatar Emir said in his opening remarks.
He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “dreams of turning the Arab region into an area of Israeli influence, and this is a dangerous fantasy.” Qatar Emir also denounced Israel’s “aggression” towards his country as “blatant, dangerous and coronavirus.”
“The blatant act of terrorism”
Iranian President Masudo Pezeshkian attended the summit and called for unity against Israel’s attacks on regional countries.
“We should act together to confront Israel’s actions as Israel violated the sovereignty of many Arab and Muslim states under the false pretext of self-defense,” the Iranian president said. He pointed out that the weak criticism of Israel by the international community allows it to continue the attack with immunity.
Pezeshkian condemned the attack by Israel as “blatant acts of terrorism” against Qatar, saying the attack was intended to hamper efforts to end the war of genocide in Gaza. He said the attacks “an Arab and Muslim countries are not safe from invasions by the Tel Aviv regime.” The Iranian president further stated that Israel, crossing “all red lines,” ignored all laws and principles of logic, but “unintentionally awakened the will of the Islamic community.”
“Israel bandits”
Other Islamic and world leaders also spoke at the summit, denounced Israel’s violations.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shea al-Sudani called for a unified response to assaults against the Arab or Islamic State, arguing that an attack on one should be viewed as an attack on everyone. He said: “Current conditions call for a transition from condemnation to coordinated collective action.” He proposed to form “a joint Arab-Islamic committee to communicate our position to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, the European Union and other international FORAs.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned that words and declarations are not sufficient to halt Israel’s actions in the region. “Our people are wary of words, they ask if future generations have found courage to act, so we see them issue condemnation, post-declaration declarations, post-declaration declarations.
Palestinian authorities President Mahmoud Abbas has urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for its actions. “We ask the international community to respond to its responsibility and to be responsible for Israel for their crimes and for repeated attacks on our nation and ethnic groups, and we are calling for practical measures in this direction to prevent the recurrence of these violations,” Abbas said. He emphasized the need to end the war in Gaza.
The Turkish president said the summit had shown unwavering support from the Islamic world for Qatar. Recept Tayyip Erdogan said Israeli attacks targeting a negotiation team of Qatar’s Palestinian group Hamas have taken “Israel bandits” to a new level. “We are faced with a chaos and blood-feeding terrorist mentality and a nation that embodies it,” the Turkish president said.
King Abdullah II of Jordan said the attack on Doha was “living evidence” that Israel’s threat is “no limit.” The Jordanian king pointed out that he continues his expansionist policy in the Israel-occupied West Bank, undermining the possibility of a solution for the two states. He said the summit must take action on Israeli actions, end the war in Gaza and make practical decisions to prevent further evacuation of the Palestinians.
Indonesia’s Vice President, Gibran Rakabumin Raka, strongly condemned Israel’s attacks on Qatar and expressed strong solidarity with the Persian Gulf state.
Regarding the measures the summit should take in response to Israel, he said, “In addition to issuing collective condemnations against Israel, it must also urge the UN Security Council to fulfill its mandate by ensuring accountability and taking solid urgent measures to prevent a recurrence.”
Our co-inflict
Israel’s attacks on Qatar have already sparked a fierce regional and global backlash. Even the closest European allies in Israel, Britain, France and Germany, have found criticism. On Thursday, in a rare unanimous show, the UN Security Council denounced the strike in support of the move, with all 15 members, including the United States. However, Washington’s criticism of Israel’s actions in Qatar must also be seen in the context of its fascinating appeal to the Persian Gulf state.
President Donald Trump’s administration tried to distance himself from the incident, but evidence suggests coordination between Israeli forces and the US Central Command (CENTCOM), including cooperation with the US controlled air defense system. The strike against Qatar raises broader concern that Israel could expand such operations to other regional countries in the future. The United States continues to be a major enabler of the Israeli war with Gaza, which began in October 2023. Washington also throws military weight behind Israeli attacks in the region.
Obscuring military failures
For now, Israel’s ongoing war with Gaza appears to be a shift from a failed military strategy on the territory. This has been recognized by IDF staff member Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. Zamir told Congressman Knesset that Netanyahu maintained darkness about the next phase of the war following the current operation aimed at capturing Gaza city. Channel 12 further reported that Zamir told senior Israeli leaders that “Hamas will not be defeated military and politically after the operation to capture Gaza city.”
However, the killing of nearly 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 21,000 children, became the only measurable result of the Netanyahu government, highlighting the failure to eliminate Hamas after the attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Therefore, Israel’s strikes to Doha must be examined from several angles. First, the Netanyahu government is trying to fail to achieve its targets in the military fiasco in Gaza and the Iranian war in June, while still failing to achieve its targets while wiping a set-up as a victory.
Second, the Doha attack appears to coincide with Israel’s wider regional ambitions. It reflects Israel’s vision of expansionism and is commonly referred to as “great Israel.” Netanyahu recently expressed open support for the agenda. It aims to expand Israeli influence to parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The United States has been accused of making the project possible by supporting Israeli military action. This is not just Qatar, which hosts the region’s largest US base at Aludade Air Base, in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.
Netanyahu’s political survival also depends on balance. His hard-hit coalition partner threatened to abandon the government if it reached a ceasefire with Hamas. With the ongoing accusations of corruption against him, extending the war becomes a handy tool to stubbornly drive and distract his legal issues from.
Normalization enables aggression
Meanwhile, the Doha Summit comes five years after the signing of the so-called Abraham Agreement, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Sudan and Morocco later joined an agreement that brokered the US. This violated the longstanding principle that peace with the Palestinians must precede normalization with Israel.
But Israel’s continued warmth across the region indicates that consent has not suppressed its attacks. On the contrary, they encouraged it to expand military operations.
Israel’s unprovoked attacks on sovereign states, blatant disregard for international law, and a relentless pursuit of territorial expansion underscores the reckless light-empt for peace and stability in the Middle East. The willingness to attack even the homes of diplomatic mediators and attack the nation hosting US military bases exposes dangerous levels of immunity that threatens security not only locally but globally. Unless Israel’s aggressive policies are confronted critically and containment, the Middle East is facing escalating violence and prolonged instability.
Arab countries must reassess their priorities and strengthen their collective stances towards Israel. As some states struggle under economic pressure, especially if US aid is withdrawn, it is essential that stronger Arab countries provide the necessary support to ensure resilience and unity. Furthermore, Arab countries need to reduce diplomatic ties with Israel, enforce full boycotts, halt all trade ties, apply growing pressures, and demonstrate true solidarity.