The Israeli Strike On Qatar: Trump Bends Over Backwards To Placate Qatari "Allies" (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

When news of Israel's strike on the Hamas leadership in Qatar first came out, the immediate question, of course, was whether the strike was successful: were Hamas leaders killed, and if so, how many? The follow-up question is what effect this strike will have on Hamas, the ceasefire talks, and the attempt to remove the terrorist group from Gaza.

Natalie Ecanow, a Qatar expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), was interviewed yesterday on I24 News, and went beyond the immediate repercussions of the strike.

She pointed out how this was a wake-up call for Hamas, warning them that their leaders were no longer safe outside of Gaza. It was a wake-up for the Qataris as well. Today, they were called to account for their double game, where they host a US military base while hosting terrorists not far from there. It could be that today's operation "opened the door for a long overdue reset in the U.S.-Qatar relationship." The first step could be Trump using US leverage to convince Qatar to kick out any remaining Hamas leaders from Qatar.

But any hope for a reset in US-Qatari relationship were apparently quashed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at today's Press Conference:

Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals.

 

Initial assumptions that the Israeli attack, which apparently the US had foreknowledge of, might disrupt the relationship between the US and Qatar now seem to be wishful thinking.

A further question, raised by Jonathan Schanzer on X, however, might still have legs. He wonders aloud whether Turkey, which also hosts Hamas figures, and Oman, which hosts a Houthi headquarters, might consider themselves on notice.

Meanwhile, Mariam Wahba, another member of FDD, suggested that the attack on Qatar could open the door for Egypt to resume its position as chief negotiator between Israel and Hamas--not that Egypt's record on mediation is so fantastic.

But based on Leavitt's comments, Trump clearly wants Qatar to continue in its role as mediator and closed the door on any possibility of Egypt resuming its role as mediator.

It appears that the US is doing its best to contain any fallout from the attack.

If in fact Israel has failed to eliminate any of the Hamas leadership, what in fact has Israel gained?

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