Nearly sixty Islamic and Arab countries condemned the Israeli air raid on a Hamas leaders in Qatar on Monday after an emergency meeting. There was too little support for further actions, such as a boycott or other sanctions.
The air raid, in which twelve Israeli combat aircraft bombarded a complex in a residential area in Doha last week, shocked the region and the international community. Nevertheless, a serious unable response from countries met on Monday was not available. Covered leaders and representatives did not get any further than a call to the international community to “take all possible legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing with his actions against the Palestinian people.”
The consultation in Qatar brought together a colorful group. American allies such as President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt and the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose country bombarded an American air base last June-noted in Qatar.
Big Differences
With 57 countries, the organization of Islamic cooperation, which invested the meeting, is the largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations. Among the members there are also countries where Muslims do not form a clear majority, such as Cameroon and Nigeria.
The great diversity of countries also meant that there were major differences in the willingness of those present to take concrete action against Israel. Iran, which fought up a war with Israel last summer, argued to isolate the country. However, countries that actually maintain ties with Israel seem to be reluctant to break them.
The latter group also includes the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, countries that signed the Abraham agreements exactly five years ago and thus normalized their relations with Israel.
Indirect contact with Washington
Just like Israel, Qatar is an important ally of the United States and mediates between Hamas and Israel in the war in Gaza. The Gulf state also housed Hamas’ political leadership at the request of the US, so that Washington could continue to communicate with the group indirectly.
But the friendship with the US and the role of Qatar during the negotiations could not prevent the Israeli attack. Qatar responded furiously. That anger was still fully visible on Monday. In his opening speech, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-thani, spoke of “racist and terrorist policy of the extremist Israeli government.”
Netanyahu would “dream of turning the Arab world into an Israeli influence zone” and thus threatening the stability of the entire region, according to Al-Thhani. Among other things, he referred to Israel’s “genocidal treatment campaign in Gaza” and his bombing on Lebanon and Syria.
Operation failed
While Israel is further insulating on the world stage with the attack in Qatar, the operation itself seems to have failed. Hamas says that all high -ranking leaders who were the target survived the bombing. Five other members of the group were killed, including the son of Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya.
Although none of the Hamas leaders has appeared in public since the attack, the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested that the leaders have (partly) survived the attack. “The Hamas terrorist leaders who live in Qatar do not care about the people in Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote in a message on social media on Saturday.
Netanyahu also refused to exclude on Monday that Israel will again attack leaders of Hamas in third countries in the future, according to the Prime Minister during a press conference together with the American foreign minister, Marco Rubio, who was visiting. According to him, the Hamas leaders always form a legitimate target, “wherever they may be.”
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