Tuesday in an Israeli television broadcast, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu criticized the role of Qatar as a mediator in the ongoing hostage negotiations. He also expressed disappointment in the United States for not putting more pressure on the Gulf state. Qatar is considered to be a significant sponsor of Hamas and it even houses its top officers like Ismail Haniyeh who is the political bureau chief for Hamas along with its head of communication and diaspora office. Yes, these Hamas officers are living quietly in Qatar while war is raging on in Gaza and still, Qatar is one of the biggest and most influential of the countries involved in Hostage negotiations, playing an enormous role in the last release which began to roll out on November 21st. Qatar’s foreign ministry condemns Netanyahu for being critical of qatar. He told Hebrew media in the interview that Qatar could be putting more pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages and that it was not working enough to bring an agreement. He suggested he does not trust the qataris and that they are essentially even more problematic than the United Nations or the red cross.
Here is the tweet from the official spokesperson of the Qatari foreign ministry named Dr. Majed Al Ansari.
“We are appalled by the alleged remarks attributed to the Israeli Prime Minister in various media reports about Qatar’s mediation role. These remarks, if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising. For months, and following a successful mediation last year that led to the release of more than a hundred hostage, Qatar has been engaged in regular dialogue with the negotiating parties including Israeli institutions, attempting to establish the framework for a new hostage agreement and the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages. Instead of concerning himself with Qatar’s strategic relations with the United States, we hope Netanyahu decides to operate in good faith and concentrate on the release of the hostages.”
