Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani stressed on Monday that his country is determined to do everything in its power to protect its sovereignty, slamming the Israeli attack on Doha last week that targeted Hamas leaders.
Sheikh Tamim inaugurated the Emergency Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha that was attended by several Arab and Islamic leaders, including Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
In his opening speech, he slammed Israel’s “treacherous attack.”
“The citizens and residents of this safe country were taken unawares, and the entire world was shocked along with them, not only because this aggression is a gross and grave violation of State's sovereignty and a trampling upon international conventions and norms, but also due to the special circumstances surrounding this cowardly terrorist act,” he added.
He said Qatar, a mediation State, “which lies thousands of miles away from the place where the attacking aircraft took off, has been exerting strenuous efforts for two years to reach a settlement that would stop the deadly and destructive war – being waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, which has long since turned into a genocidal war – and to secure the release of the Israeli hostages.”
“Doha has hosted, during these negotiations, delegations from Hamas and Israel. The mediation has already achieved, through cooperation with Egypt and the United States, the release of 135 hostages in exchange for two truces in 2023 and 2025, and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Yet Israel has continued its war,” remarked Sheikh Tamim.
He revealed that when the attack occurred on September 9, the political leadership of Hamas was studying an American proposal that it had received from us and the Egyptians. “It is obvious that Israel, which was supposed to be the other negotiating party, at least in the context of this mediation, was aware of this meeting being held in a well-known location frequented by diplomats, journalists, and others. Thus, decided to assassinate negotiators engaged in studying an American paper and preparing their response to it,” he noted.
“Have you ever heard of anything like this before? A country that systematically and doggedly working to assassinate the very politicians it is negotiating with, and attacking the mediating country where the negotiations are taking place,” he stated.
“If Israel wants to assassinate the political leadership of Hamas, then why does it negotiate with it? And if it wants to negotiate the release of the hostages, then why assassinate all those who could conduct negotiations with it? And how can we welcome Israeli delegations to our country for negotiations, when those who sent these delegations are plotting to bomb this country?” he asked.
“These questions await no answer, but rather clarify why we say, unequivocally, that this aggression is in reality blatant, treacherous, and cowardly. It is impossible to deal with such a degree of malice and treachery,” he said. “For there are simple, basic principles in human interaction, which even those provided with wisdom and courage necessary to engage in, can't expect that there are some who pay them no heed and to whom they mean nothing.”
“Whoever works doggedly and systematically to assassinate the party he is negotiating with intends to sabotage the negotiations. When he claims that their goal behind the negotiations is to free their detainees, his acts belie their claim,” he said of Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu.
“Releasing his soldiers and citizens is not among his priorities, and negotiations are merely part of the war, a political tactic coupled with the war, and a means to mislead Israeli public opinion. When public opinion pressures him, he sends a delegation to negotiate. He does so with one hand, while sabotaging the negotiations with the other," he added.
“If stopping the war is the price for freeing his hostages, he doesn't want them. What he really wants is to make Gaza uninhabitable in order to displace its population. He believes in the so-called ‘Greater Israel,’ and he is exploiting the opportunity of war to expand settlements, change the status quo in the Holy Haram al-Sharif, tighten restrictions on the population in the West Bank, and plan to annex parts of it,” continued Sheikh Tamim.
“The government of Israel believes it places the Arabs before a fait accompli each time, then follows them with new ones, so they drop the old and negotiate over the new,” he noted.
“The Israeli Prime Minister, who boasts that he has changed the face of the Middle East in the last two years, truly intends that Israel intervene wherever and whenever it wishes. He dreams that the Arab region becomes an Israeli sphere of influence. This is a dangerous delusion,” warned the Qatari ruler.
“The government of extremist settlers wants the dispatch of Israeli air power for bombing in the countries of the region to become a routine matter. In Lebanon, the acceptance by the Lebanese government of an American paper is met with bombings and assassinations, and Israel seeks to drag it into a civil war to stop its aggressions against it,” he said.
“As for Syria, that same Prime Minister openly declares there is no negotiation over the occupied Golan. He speaks and acts as though the areas south of Damascus are practically influence zones for Israel which works towards the partition of Syria. We are confident that these schemes will not pass,” he added.
“Israel claims it is a democracy surrounded by enemies, while in reality it is building a regime of occupation and apartheid hostile to its surroundings, and waging a genocidal war during which crimes, that know no red flags, have been committed,” he stressed.
“Its Prime Minister has declared, days ago, that he prevented the establishment of a Palestinian State, and that such a state will not be established in the future. He is hostile to the Palestinian Authority, and opposes the agreements by which this Authority was incepted.”
“Two neighboring States signed peace agreements with Israel and abided thereof, and two other states remain committed to the Arab Peace Initiative and seek a settlement through which their occupied lands may be restored. If Israel had accepted the Arab Peace Initiative, it would have spared the region and itself countless tragedies,” said Sheikh Tamim.
“Israel is not only rejecting peace with its surroundings, but rather wants to impose its will upon them. And whoever objects to that, will be portrayed in its false propaganda, which no one believes anymore, as either a terrorist or antisemitic, while at the same time the far-right government in Israel practices terrorist and racist policies,” he declared.
“We shouldn't be contended with merely holding an emergency Summit, but that we take concrete steps to address the state of madness of power, arrogance, and bloodthirstiness obsession that has befallen the government of Israel, and what resulted and continues to result from it: First, the insistence on continuing a genocidal war, displacement, and settlement expansion in Palestine. Second, the blatant intervention in the sovereignty of Arab states; and third and finally, the treacherous aggression against my safe country - a peace broker that has dedicated its diplomacy to resolving conflicts by peaceful means, and which for that receives appreciation and respect everywhere,” he stated.
“For our part, we are determined to do everything necessary and permissible to us by international law, to preserve our sovereignty and confront this Israeli aggression,” he stressed.
