WhatsappThe Trump administration’s new security guarantee for Doha is a dangerous price for the hostage deal that empowers a key backer of Hamas and global jihad, Israeli experts warn.
A recent executive order issued by United States President Donald Trump that dramatically upgrades the U.S.’s defense commitment to Qatar provides a dangerous “insurance policy” to a state that is a primary supporter of global terrorism, including Hamas, Al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates, observers in Israel have warned.
The executive order, signed on Sept. 29, states that the U.S. “shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” committing Washington to take all necessary measures to defend it.
The move is seen as part of the broader architecture of the Gaza hostage deal, which Doha supports, and comes after an Israeli Air Force strike targeting senior members of Hamas’s political bureau on Sept. 9.
Professor Boaz Ganor, president of Reichman University and founder of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, told JNS that this defense pact is a significant price that Israel is being forced to pay.
He described Qatar as “a terror-supporting state that overtly or indirectly supports the most extreme elements among the Muslim Brotherhood (of which Hamas defines itself as its military arm), and global jihad elements supporting Al-Qaeda and ISIS.”
Ganor described Qatar’s long-standing dual policy of simultaneously courting the West while fueling extremism, stating, “Qatar has always tried to enjoy both worlds—to get closer to the Western world and its leader, the U.S., in various activities ranging from hosting the large American airbase on its territory [Al-Udeid airbase] to huge investments in various Western countries, including the purchase of or donation to popular institutions such as football clubs, sports clubs, research institutes and universities.
“On the other hand, Qatar transferred large sums of money to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and used its popular propaganda arm in the Arab world —Al Jazeera in Arabic —to encourage radicalization and incite against elements hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood, primarily various Arab leaders and Israel, and Al Jazeera in English to spread the Islamist narrative among Western countries.”
On Oct. 10, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a meeting at the Pentagon with this Qatari counterpart, Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, that the U.S. Air Force Base at Mountain Home, Idaho, would host Qatar F-15 jets and pilots, to “enhance our combine training [and] increase the lethality, interoperability,” according to a report in Air Force Times.
Ganor assessed that the new pact is a direct outcome of the Israeli airstrike in Doha, which was unsuccessful in killing Hamas leaders, and Trump’s desire to use Qatar as the central lever to pressure Hamas into accepting the hostage deal. He warned that this move “grants Qatar an insurance policy to continue its dangerous policy.”
He added that the pact should be conditioned on Qatar’s refraining from passive or active support for terrorist organizations and assistance to radical Islamist activity around the world, or else it could provide “a tailwind for global Islamist terrorism throughout the world.”
Noa Lazimi, a researcher specializing in international relations at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told JNS, “The importance of this step must be understood against the backdrop of Qatar’s considerable investment in recent years in the modernization of its air force, as part of a comprehensive policy to strengthen its military capabilities.
“According to an in-depth monitoring report by MEMRI [Middle East Media Research Institute], about a decade ago, Doha’s air fleet consisted of only 12 fighter jets in total (of which 9 were operational). Today, following an accelerated strategy of armament, the fleet has been dramatically expanded due to purchases from the U.S. and a number of European countries.”
This expansion is not just in hardware but also in operational know-how, Lazimi added, with Qatar gaining experience through multinational joint exercises, including air training with hostile countries like Turkey and Pakistan.
“This raises the fear that Qatar will serve as a bridge for transferring advanced Western technologies and tactics to elements hostile to Israel, such as Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and others,” she cautioned.
While Qatar’s requests for the advanced F-35 fighter jet have so far been refused, Lazimi said that this could change. “If the trend of tightening relations between Washington and Doha continues, and in accordance with economic and other considerations, the scenario in which the U.S. sells F-35 aircraft to Qatar should not be ruled out, a step that Israel must oppose due to the damage to its competitive military advantage against the countries of the region,” she concluded.
This contradictory American policy towards Qatar is not new. A June 15, 2017 report by CBS News noted that President Trump was simultaneously authorizing the sale of over $21 billion in U.S. weapons to Qatar while berating the country for “sponsoring terrorism at the highest levels.”
The report detailed the signing of a $12 billion deal for 36 F-15QA fighter jets, a sale that was first authorized under the Obama administration but championed by Trump, who had told the Qatari emir he was going to sell Qatar “big, beautiful weapons.” This occurred even as the American president was publicly stating that “the nation of Qatar has unfortunately been a funder of terrorism.”
The new defense pact, detailed in an executive order published by the White House, solidifies Qatar’s status as a key strategic partner, locking it into the American security orbit.
