Qatar Cannot Have It Both Ways: It owns a piece of the Empire State Building yet uses profits to promote extremism, by Yousef Al Otaiba.
It is a striking and dangerous contradiction: Qatar invests billions of dollars in the U.S. and Europe and then recycles the profits to support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and groups linked to al Qaeda. Qatar hosts the American military base from which the U.S. directs the regional war against extremism, yet it also owns media networks responsible for inciting many of the same extremists.
When the United Arab Emirates and like-minded countries took diplomatic and economic measures against Qatar last week, it was not done lightly or in haste. Rather it was prompted by the accumulation of years of bewildering Qatari behavior that poses a direct threat to the U.S., U.A.E. and Qatar itself. If Qatar sows the wind, it will reap the whirlwind.
President Trump said it well on Friday: “the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding [of extremism]. . . . For Qatar, we want you back among the unity of responsible nations.” …
Qatar supports some bad people:
A 2015 Wall Street Journal article noted: “For years, Islamist rebel fighters from Libya and Syria traveled to Qatar and returned with suitcases full of money.” Doha has provided financial and logistical support to the Nusra Front (now known as Tahrir al Sham), the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. The Manchester suicide bomber was associated with an al Qaeda-aligned militia in Libya supported by Qatar.
The Financial Times reports that two months ago Qatar paid a hostage ransom of as much as $1 billion to a variety of terror organizations in Syria and Iraq that are subject to sanctions, including Iran’s local Hezbollah franchise. In Egypt, Qatar has given a blank check to the Muslim Brotherhood, the launching pad for many of the most violent Islamist groups. …
Qatar-owned media, led by Al Jazeera, continue to incite violence and fanaticism across the Arab world. Like a twisted version of “The Daily Show,” the cleric al-Qaradawi has used his TV program to promote a fatwa encouraging suicide bombers, as well as to defend the killing of American soldiers in Iraq as a “religious obligation.”
The ABC shows two hours of Al Jazeera every night. Must be cool!
Australia must sever ties with ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ Qatar, Cory Bernardi says.
