St Andrews – After Israel’s unprovoked airstrike on Qatar’s capital on Tuesday, over 30 countries condemned the attack, reaching a consensus that the attack was unnecessary, unprovoked, and a glaring breach of Qatar’s sovereignty.
Yesterday, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the airstrike in an agreed statement amongst all members of the UN.
Qatari diplomats and officials—including Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani—appeared at the session with statements defending the sovereignty of his nation. He promised to continue Qatar’s humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, and support Palestine in the midst of the ongoing genocide.
According to Al Jazeera, US Intelligence purportedly knew of the attack and informed Qatar, but were “too late.” Doha denies this claim.
Washington condemned Israel’s airstrikes, as Doha is one of the nation’s most strategic allies in the region, and the acting US ambassador to the UNSC made an appearance and statement that Israel’s “unilateral bombing…does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals.”
US President Donald Trump’s response to the strike appeared to be one of frustration with Israel as Al Udeid Air Base, one of the US’ most strategic airbases in the region, is located in Doha. He promised Qatar that the attack would not happen again.
However, the US still remains nuanced and shielding of Israel, saying that despite the frustration with Israel, “eliminating Hamas… is a worthy goal.”
It took no time, however, for the US to symbolically withdraw its support of Qatar, when Israeli Ambassador to the US threatened that Israel would “get them [Qatar] next time.” In fact Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his threat to Qatar:
“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbour terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice – because if you don’t, we will.”
Analysts speculate on Washington’s role in the attacks. In an interview with Al Jazeera, one analyst said that Israel’s plans to carry out the attacks “must have cleared it with the US. Netanyahu is aggressive, but he is not that stupid.”
Israel’s genocide and starvation campaign in Gaza continues. In the last 42 hours alone, 42 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), adding to the larger mounting death toll of 61,000 since October 7, 2023.
