On the 9th of September, 2025, Israel launched an attack against Qatar, striking the capital, Doha. According to Israel, the attack was launched with American foreknowledge in order to take out the Hamas delegation present in Qatar to negotiate a peace to the nearly two-year-long genocide in Gaza. That was denied by the Americans, who stated that they were told of the attack through military channels either before or during the attack. The denial, however, rings hollow when one reads the actual statement in which they label the attack as illegal but done with the noblest of intentions.
The attack comes at a time when Qatar is looking to cement itself as the new global diplomat, replacing Switzerland, which countries like China and Russia feel has fallen too close into the US/NATO orbit and no longer represents truly neutral parties. Qatar, by hosting the Russia-US summits along with hosting Hamas and Israeli delegations for peace talks, was looking to burnish its reputation as more than a gas giant and be seen as a true global player, this time on the diplomatic scene. The strikes in the Doha residential neighbourhood signalled that Israel will not let that happen free of cost.
Now, the question seems to be, did the US know or didn’t it know? I think it is a silly and immaterial question. Silly because we have seen over the course of this genocide, in particular, and historically, that Israel does not take foreign action unless the Americans are made aware of it. The reason is simple: Israel, as a small state, can’t spread its forces all that much and must cross territory that it doesn’t occupy. Those spaces are occupied by the Americans; they also have the technology to refuel and resupply Israeli aircraft as they cross multiple countries. Immaterial because in the same American “denial” we see them state clearly that the elimination of Hamas was a worthy goal.
The real question I think should be, did Qatar bring this on itself? By that I mean, should it have expected that some form of Israeli attack would take place?
The short answer is yes, Qatar should have expected an attack from Israel. While Israel hadn’t attacked Qatari territory before this, in 2010 Israel was accused of assassinating a Hamas leader in Dubai by entering his hotel room, paralysing him with a muscle relaxant, and then suffocating and electrocuting him to death. Israel has said there is no evidence to support that. At the same time it has also been suspected of other mysterious deaths in the various Gulf states, which, on the down low, maintain diplomatic and trade ties with Israel.
Qatar, by hosting Hamas delegates and being the primary node from which Muslim Brotherhood groups such as Hamas are funded, should have expected some form of direct attack from Israel.
The Gulf state should have also expected this because for the past few months, Israeli media has been littered with OpEds decrying Qatar, labelling it as the next enemy which needs to be dealt with in the way Hamas is being dealt with. Israel has labelled the country as Hamas enablers and has been, in a rather unsubtle manner, calling for action against Qatar either through direct action or propaganda.
Qatar has allowed this to happen because it believed in two things. Firstly, it felt that its under-the-table dealings with Israel meant that the Israelis would never dream of harming Qatar. That is akin to believing that the neighbourhood arsonist won’t attack you because you provide him with gasoline. Secondly, Qatar thought that it wouldn’t be attacked because it is close to the current US Administration and believes that it has buttered up the president so that its interests are secure. Qatar believed that because it had taken part in the illegal Israeli-US attack on Iran or the overthrow of Assad, it would be exempt from any Israeli brutality. It has been proven dead wrong.
The attack on Qatar shows that its hosting of the United States’ largest military base in the region means nothing; the country will still be a ripe target for attack by America’s only true ally in the region, Israel. The military “security” which the US is supposed to have offered has turned out to be a fig leaf. Radars detected nothing, and US commanders on the ground who must have been aware of the situation said nothing to their hosts. The event has shown how little the US regards Qatar as a host and as an ally — totally expendable and only useful if it toes the US line 100 per cent.
This is not a relationship of equals, something the people have been trying to stress to the Gulf monarchs; rather, it is a relationship of an imperial power and its vassals. The Qataris, like other NATO allies, are slowly coming to the realisation that the US security umbrella is a sieve, the US will not defend them, and, like European NATO countries, Qatar must begin the long and arduous process of creating its own independent security umbrella.
Qatar, if it is to be the Switzerland of the Gulf, needs to break away from the American security umbrella. Countries which are hostile to the US or Israel, and are looking for a place to negotiate, will be looking twice at Qatar, as the Gulf state is simply unable to guarantee the security of the dignitaries and negotiating team.
But we all know Qatar will not change its course of being a supplicant and vassal. It will maintain its “security” alliances and continue to believe that the US will have its back, even as the smoke from Doha continues to rise. They Qatari authorities are lackeys, compradors, who will follow any dictate from the US and are void of the pride which emanates from the man and woman in the street who wretch at the thought of vassalage. The true heroes of the Gulf are the Yemenis led by Ansar Allah, who fought the US to a standstill in the Red Sea and who continue to shut down trade in the Red Sea conducted by Israeli vessels until they end their genocide in Gaza.
Yemen, despite being the poorest country in the region, and one which has been under constant bombardment for almost 20 years, continues to embarrass the Gulf monarchies, showing that money does not mean pride, and that solidarity is the true hallmark of an independent nation. Yemen, over the past two years, has done more than Qatar, which has been duplicitously hosting Israeli negotiation teams, knowing full well, as the world does, that Israel has no intention of a negotiated settlement.
Qatar, nations in the Middle East, and nations that deal with Israel in general, must take note of this. No amount of supplication is enough to please the beast, and you will always be a target unless and even if you toe their line unflinchingly. This is a racist, expansionist entity which, by its own admission, seeks to dominate the region and re-draw maps; it cannot be negotiated with and must be ostracised. Qatar must break all ties with Israel, no matter how minimal or unofficial; the rest of the Arab world must also follow suit, or else more of this will happen. With Israel claiming territory stretching up to Saudi Arabia in the greater Israel project, all people across the world, but specifically in the Middle East, must be on alert.
More attacks on other countries in the region can be expected with tacit or open US backing, and it is up to Arab nations to take a stand. They can either continue to make themselves marks and rubes or they can stand up for themselves and the Palestinian people and take action against Israel.
