A high Qatari official says Israeli PM is sabotaging peace efforts

The Israeli army carried out unprecedented airstrikes Tuesday on senior Hamas leaders in a suburb of Qatar’s capital, Doha. The assault killed six folks, together with the son of high Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya and a Qatari safety official; no Hamas senior members have been killed, in keeping with the group.

It marks the primary time Israel struck contained in the Gulf nation, which is a key U.S. ally, dwelling to the biggest U.S. army base within the area and is taking part in a central function in mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

The assault drew condemnation from throughout the area, the U.N. and even uncommon disapproval from Washington. President Donald Trump mentioned on Fact Social he known as Qatar’s emir afterward to guarantee him that such an assault wouldn’t occur once more. Trump additionally mentioned he notified Qatar concerning the impending assault by U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff when he discovered concerning the strikes, however it was too late to cease the assault. 

“The call that came to Qatar was 10 minutes after the attack. There was no warning before the attack,” Majed al-Ansari, an advisor to Qatar’s Prime Minister and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, instructed NPR.

In a dialog with Morning Version’s Leila Fadel, Ansari described the strike as a “flagrant attack against our sovereignty” and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of making an attempt to sabotage peace efforts. The clearest signal of this, he mentioned, was Israel’s determination to “bomb the mediator.”

This interview has been edited for size and readability.

Interview highlights

Leila Fadel: Does Qatar plan to reply to Israel’s assault in your nation?

Majed al-Ansari: We’ve got taken all measures to reply to this flagrant assault in opposition to our sovereignty. We’ve got established a authorized group headed by the minister of state, [Mohammed bin Abdulaziz] Al-Khulaifi, to debate all doable authorized and diplomatic avenues the place we will deal with this assault. We’ve got already despatched a letter to the U.N. Safety Council, and there might be a session by the Safety Council over that. We’re speaking to all of our companions within the area and past to take a really robust place in opposition to the actions of Prime Minister Netanyahu that has pushed Israel into being a pariah state within the area. And we wish to make it very clear that this may by no means occur once more and we won’t permit Prime Minister Netanyahu to hazard the lives not solely of Qataris who dwell right here in Qatar however the area as a complete.

He’s a saboteur in chief answerable for sabotaging any probability for peace within the area and the most important message but is bombing the mediator to be able to ship a really clear message that even those that work for the reason for peace at the moment are targets.

Fadel: The Hamas political workplace was arrange in your nation over a decade in the past on the behest of the USA, and Qatar’s function as a negotiator with the group was requested by successive U.S. administrations. After this assault, will Qatar proceed to play the function of negotiator if it makes your nation unsafe?

Ansari: It’s going to take greater than a global bully like Prime Minister Netanyahu to vary the DNA of the Qatari folks. We’ve got all the time been facilitating and mediating for [a] peaceable consequence. That is a part of our structure. It’s a part of our nationwide id, and it’ll stay so.

Fadel: Will you proceed to mediate on this ceasefire deal? Are prospects for peace going to proceed by Qatar?

Ansari: Clearly, when one get together asks us to ship a proposal to the opposite facet, after which once we begin assembly with the opposite facet for these proposals, they bomb our nation — they bomb the mediator and the locations the place the talks have been going down — it sends a really clear message that there’s nothing legitimate within the talks. We won’t cease our efforts to finish the genocide of the folks of Gaza, finish the crimes of Prime Minister Netanyahu over the peoples of the area in Lebanon and Syria and in Palestine, and now in Qatar. We at the moment are processing the state of affairs and speaking to our companions internationally to guarantee them that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been all the time there to derail the talks, both by assassinating folks on the opposite facet or, as we’ve got seen now, by attacking the mediator themselves with impunity.

Fadel: If they seem to be a goal of Israel, will Hamas officers stay in Qatar?

Ansari: This can be a determination to be taken by the very best echelons of management right here in Qatar. For the time being, what we’re busy with is our safety forces and the Ministry of Inside forces and the Civil Protection Forces and the interior safety pressure (ISF), are all there within the location always since this assault occurred, making an attempt to establish the fallen Qatari safety individuals who have been there within the location. We’re involved proper now with our personal nationwide safety, with the security of individuals right here in Doha, and ensuring that all the things that may be taken because the precautions taken proper now in that location and past. I believe there might be a second the place the choices might be taken on numerous points, however proper now, our major focus is on our sovereignty, our nationwide safety and in ensuring that this assault doesn’t go unanswered.

Fadel: The U.S. appeared largely caught off guard by this assault. President Trump mentioned he was very sad about it and known as Qatar’s Emir to guarantee him it will by no means occur once more. The White Home additionally mentioned they warned your authorities by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, that the assault was coming. You disputed that on-line, did the U.S. warn Qatar, or did it not?

Ansari: The decision that got here to Qatar was 10 minutes after the assault. There was no warning earlier than the assault. And as we’ve got heard from our interlocutors within the U.S. and the calls made yesterday, the warning by Israel to the U.S. didn’t come earlier than the assault, and subsequently, there was no approach for the U.S. to warn us. So this was a terrorist assault. There was completely no warning. And the area, the neighborhood the place this assault occurred, is a residential neighborhood the place the placement was recognized by your reporters and different folks round Doha very brazenly the place the talks have been going down with the Hamas delegation. So it was not a secret location or a hidden location. We conveyed all of this to the U.S. facet, and we’ve got obtained very clear affirmation that the U.S. was not consulted about this assault, doesn’t condone this assault and that the U.S. will be sure that it does not occur once more by its partnership with Qatar.

Fadel: How will it guarantee? I imply, the President known as the Emir to guarantee it will not occur once more, however how will the U.S. guarantee that it will not occur once more if it did not need it to occur within the first place?

Ansari: I might ask that query of the Trump administration, however we’ve got full belief that working with the administration prior to now has made numerous our safety strategic positions stronger, and it is a partnership that we imagine in with the U.S. The institutional relationship between Qatar and the U.S. has all the time been robust, and we depend on our companions within the U.S. to be sure that Netanyahu is stored at bay and is not in a position to throw the entire area into chaos. This can be a warmonger that’s basing his coverage choices across the area on narcissism and political ambitions that do not transcend staying in energy for no a couple of month. And as a global group, with the assistance of the U.S., we wish to work to be sure that he’s by no means ready to do this once more.