The IDF and Shin Bet have a very special talent for taking out top leaders of our enemies. This is possible because of exceedingly careful long-term planning, superb intelligence and precision munitions.
We executed another operation aimed at doing this again yesterday. This time in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The implications here are significant.
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Qatar is treated by the US as an ally. In fact, since 1996, the US has maintained the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar west of Doha; it is the largest American base in the Middle East.
But this very same Qatar has been bankrolling Hamas for some time and has been hosting and protecting the leadership of Hamas for as long as 30 years.
Here we see Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who functions as both prime minister and foreign minister:
Qatar promotes Islamist ideology – in good part via its Al Jazeera Media Network.
In April, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) – which is based in Qatar, receives funding from the Qatari royal [al Thani] family and has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood – issued a fatwa [an Islamic legal opinion] calling on Muslim governments to support Hamas “militarily, economically, and politically” and to besiege Israel by “land, air, and sea.” This was an open call for jihad.
The government of Qatar ignored Israel’s urgent request that it publicly reject this religious edict, which even the Grand Mufti of Egypt had rejected.
And yet, Qatar has been functioning as a mediator in the off again–on again negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as if it could be an honest broker.
This has been an infuriating and insane situation. I would call it schizoid. But now there has been a significant shift in the dynamics.
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Yesterday, Israel hit a building in Doha where a number of Hamas leaders were gathered for a meeting in the apartment of acting leader Khalil al-Hayya.
As I write, there is conflicting information as to how many Hamas members were in the room. Estimates vary between four and eight; Khaled Mashaal, Zaher Jabarin, Mohammad Ismail Darwish, Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hussam Badran and Tahar Anunu are among those at the top of the Hamas organization known to have been in Doha at the time.
Then there is the question of how many were actually killed. Al-Hayya may not have been, and I have read a report indicating that Khaled Mashaal was not at the meeting.
Hamas released a report yesterday indicating that five had been killed, including a son of Al-Hayya, but none, according to this report, were from the top echelon. And Hamas politburo member Suhail al-Hindi told Al Jazeera that top leadership had survived the attack. But that’s what Hamas says. We simply do not know yet.
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There is wide speculation as to why the top terrorists might not all have been taken out.
The munitions that were utilized were not as powerful as they might have been because of an effort to limit collateral damage. A more powerful attack might have proved more successful.
However, another approach that has gained traction involves Trump’s acknowledgement that he directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar that the attack was coming.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-866933
Qatar, it can be safely assumed, would have immediately warned Hamas.
Qatar denies having any advance notice. Majad al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, insists that the call – presumably from Witkoff – came as the explosions from the attack were already heard.
And so we have a number of denials and very little clarity as to what actually transpired.
Some analysts are of the opinion that Trump must have been notified some time in advance and have given Israel a go-ahead nod. Trump’s statement – a “last warning” to Hamas – issued on his Truth Social site just days ago reinforces this impression:
“I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
Others, however, believe that the Americans were told only at the last moment.
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Trump, for his part, was particularly eager to disassociate the US from this military strike inside of Qatar. He professed great distress about the site of the attack, even as he acknowledged the wisdom of hitting Hamas leaders.
On social media, he referred to Qatar as an “ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace.”
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-866933#google_vignette
Bravely taking risks for peace? This is considerably over the top even for Trump. Over the past 23 months there is so much Qatar could have done, and did not do, to pressure Hamas leaders to release hostages or wind down the war.
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If we are going to talk about bravely taking risks, we should note that it was Netanyahu who ordered the attack. I salute him for this courageous decision. (And I note that Hamas’s claim of responsibility for the horrendous terror attack on Sunday that killed six and wounded many more may have been factored into his decision.)
Once it became clear that the Americans had been told, rumors began to fly about American involvement in the operation – which distressed Trump. Netanyahu’s office then put out a statement:
“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation.”
“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”
X @netanyahu
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There will be a great deal of follow-up necessary as details clarify, but here I want to look at the reasons why this action was so important:
The Hamas leaders in Qatar were involved in the planning of October 7 and believed they could sit in luxury in Doha, with impunity, watching the war unfold. Now they know better. They cannot be protected.
Israel has a policy of taking down anyone who has acted against Israel, even if it takes years (and sometimes it does). Now it is clear that no terrorist involved in the Oct. 7 massacre will be able to evade justice.
Said Defense Minister Yisrael Katz today, the “long arm” of the Israel Defense Forces will continue to target its enemies: “There is no place they can hide…everyone who was involved in the Oct. 7 massacre will be brought to justice in full.” (Emphasis added)
While Bibi, speaking last night, declared:
“At the beginning of the war, I promised that Israel would reach those who perpetrated this horror. And today, Israel and I have kept that promise….
“Now, much of the world, including much of the democratic world, or governments at least, have shamefully, shamefully forgotten October 7th. But I don’t forget, and Israel will never forget. Never.” (Emphasis added)
https://www.jns.org/katz-summit-of-fire-op-shows-hamas-terrorists-have-nowhere-to-hide/
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And a statement from Netanyahu tonight: I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will.” (Emphasis added)
https://www.gov.il/en/pages/spoke-11september100925
According to the Times of Israel, Doha is reassessing its mediation role and Hamas’s future in the country.
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An analysis of this situation by Jpost editor Alex Winston offers an exceedingly important take on this situation:
“For decades, Israel has attempted to hold its conduct to Western standards. Diplomatically, it has looked to the West as a model for democracy, and its military has operated within the constraints of Western diplomatic norms. These include measured responses, careful escalation ladders, and endless rounds of negotiations that often reward the very actors who orchestrate violence against Israeli civilians. Tuesday’s strike in Doha may mark a fundamental shift: Israel is speaking the language the Middle East actually understands.
“The assassination attempt against Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital…was a declaration that the rules of engagement have changed.
“For 30 years, the Hamas leaders have enjoyed what The Jerusalem Post’s Seth Frantzman aptly described as ‘Hamas privilege’ in Doha, ‘living in luxury abroad’ while orchestrating terror from their Qatari safe haven.
“On Tuesday, Israel, sick of Hamas’s games in dragging its feet in negotiations to end the war in Gaza, took matters into its own hands.”
Winston cites Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, who explained that “Western powers have consistently tried to impose their own cultural framework onto Middle Eastern dynamics.
“This approach treats negotiations as good-faith exercises between rational actors, where compromise is a virtue and escalation is failure. However, this misreads how power operates in the Middle East, a geopolitical powder keg like none other on the planet.
“Hamas’s leadership has spent decades exploiting this Western mindset…The result is a perverse system where Israel finds itself ‘negotiating by Hamas’s rules,’ where delays in hostage negotiations are rewarded with international pressure on Israel, rather than consequences for Hamas.
“The Middle East, as Diker noted, ‘only understands victory and defeat.’
“This [is] a recognition that this region is different…strength signals legitimacy, while weakness invites aggression.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that ‘the days when terror leaders enjoy immunity anywhere are over’ could represent more than tough talk. It could indicate a change in how Israel projects power. Rather than seeking Western approval for each escalation, Israel is demonstrating that it will act unilaterally to protect its interests.” (Emphasis here and above added)
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-866993#google_vignette
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Please, pray with full hearts, my friends, for the courage and strength of our leaders, the safety of our fighting troops, and the rescue of our hostages.
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
