Qatar is seeking to rally support in the region and globally after Israel’s airstrike on a Hamas meeting last week. According to Arab News, “Qatar's hosting of leaders from Arab and Islamic countries in Doha on Monday is the strongest demonstration yet of its anger after Israel carried out an air strike on Hamas leaders in its capital on September 9.”
This is an important meeting, and Gulf countries, as well as other countries, are preparing to try to meet Doha’s needs and requests. The Israeli airstrike on Doha was unprecedented. Over the last two years, Israel has been fighting a multi-front war. Most of the fighting has been done in Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
However, Israel’s ground operations also expanded to Lebanon in September 2024 to confront Hezbollah. Iranian proxies had attacked Israel hundreds of times from numerous places, including from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Iran also attacked Israel twice in 2024.
Israel responded. However, the strikes on Qatar were different. Doha hosts Hamas leaders, but it claims to do so because the US and others asked Doha to do so back in 2012.
Cash transferred from Qatar to Hamas-run Gaza before October 7 was done in coordination with Israel. As such, Doha is shocked that despite being a major non-NATO ally of the US, it was also a victim of an Israeli airstrike.
Many questions remain about that strike. Will it affect Hamas and Hamas's sense that it is safe in Doha? Will it affect Doha? Qatar sent its prime minister to Washington after the strike.
“While Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group in Gaza since 2023, its decision to attack Hamas in the territory of a fellow US ally shocked the region, especially since Qatar has played a leading role in trying to mediate an end to the war,” Arab News says.
“Israel's attack on Tuesday was immediately condemned by Qatar's Gulf neighbours as a breach of sovereignty and a setback to diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza. Several leaders, including UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, visited Doha in a show of solidarity with Qatar.”
The UAE and Bahrain are members of the Abraham Accords. Will the Doha strike change the calculus in the Gulf regarding those accords, which are now almost five years old? Al-Ain Media in the UAE noted that a preliminary meeting is taking place among foreign ministers of Arab and Islamic countries as Doha gears up for a summit on Monday.
“Dr.. Majid bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said via his Twitter account that Doha will host the emergency Arab-Islamic summit next Monday, which is being held in light of recent developments in the region.”
Trump also met with Qatar’s Prime Minister. They had a “great dinner,” the report said. Al-Ansari added, "The summit will discuss a draft statement on the Israeli attack on Qatar, submitted by the preparatory meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, which will be held on Sunday." He says this is an important meeting and Qatar will be clear about the next steps confronting Israel’s “aggression.”
Significant regional impact
The strike on Qatar has had a significant impact on the region. Many countries now feel they may come under attack by Israel. Cairo is considering changing its security relationship with Israel. Turkey is prodding countries to stand up to Jerusalem. Iraq is worried.
The National in the UAE noted that “Arab nations are considering an Egyptian proposal to establish a joint military force comprising troops and arms contributed by members of the Arab League, sources have told The National.
The proposal, first mooted in 2015, is being resurrected in response to Israel's strike on the Qatari capital of Doha, which targeted senior Hamas leaders. The attack sparked strong condemnation from Arab nations as well as Western powers.”
What is interesting here is that several years ago, after the Abraham Accords, there was talk of Israel and the Arab states forming a defense alliance. In those days, talk of normalization with Saudi Arabia presented it as only a matter of time. Israel would soon be linked to the UAE as part of a corridor from India to Europe.
This was called I2U2, as in Israel, India, the US, and the UAE. There was the Negev Forum and Negev Summit process and the N7 Initiative. However, the last 700 days of war have changed all this. Today, there is still talk of an IMEC, an India-Middle East Corridor; however, the talk in the Arab world today is less about partnership with Israel and more about seeing Israel as a destabilizing force in the region.
After the Abraham Accords, there was talk of how Israel and the Arab states might coordinate against Iran. Now that talk seems squandered. The talk of an Arab “NATO” is now very different. In 2015, the talk was about confronting the Houthis.
“Egypt is now understood to be pushing for Cairo to be the force's headquarters. Egypt, which boasts the Middle East's largest army, also wants the commander's position to rotate among the 22 members of the Arab League, with an Egyptian serving the first term. A civilian would serve as secretary-general,” The National said.
The new Arab joint work may see Israel as more of a threat than others. This would be a major shift and risk to the Abraham Accords. Doha appears to be messaging about this.
Ankara is exploiting this situation. “No one in the Middle East feels safe amid an increasing sense that the Israeli government is fueling region-wide instability, former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu,” told The National. The Doha strike may accelerate some processes or set in motion new trends. It was a brazen attack and a gamble.
If it had succeeded in eliminating top Hamas members, then it might have changed things. However, messaging now portrays it as having not killed the top people. However, the Hamas leaders appear to continue to be in hiding. It is not clear how the chips will fall. However, it may have altered the calculations of some Gulf and Arab states.