Oded Ailam, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad and currently a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), speaks about the dual role of Qatar, which presents itself as an honest broker while simultaneously supporting terror groups.
“Qatar has developed a unique formula - almost like a global start-up - comparable to Charlie Chaplin sending a boy to break windows and then coming to fix them,” Ailam told Arutz Sheva-Israel National News. “They created a model that enables Qatar to be a dominant player on the world stage. Today Qatar is a diplomatic, economic, and media empire, deliberately built to become a central actor internationally.”
According to Ailam, the model has been extraordinarily successful. “Qatar now mediates between the Taliban and the Americans, Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, in Nigeria, and elsewhere. Qatar is the middleman - and the mediator always profits in influence, visibility, and power. It’s no coincidence they hosted the World Cup and now aspire to host the 2036 Olympics. They receive prestige and status as global peacemakers.”
Yet, while its standing has “skyrocketed on steroids,” as Ailam put it, the problem is Qatar’s ongoing sponsorship of jihadist movements worldwide. “From al-Qaeda to ISIS to Hamas - all have benefited from Qatari support. In 2012, Syria expelled Hamas leaders, who then moved to Qatar where they have lived in five-star conditions. Since then, Qatar has transferred some \$1.8 billion to Hamas, money that built the terrorist organization. Qatar is the patron of Hamas’ agenda, with Al Jazeera serving as its mouthpiece.”
Ailam added that hostage videos released by Hamas were staged by Al Jazeera crews. He recalled that just hours after the October 7 massacre, the Qatari foreign minister issued a statement blaming Israel. “Qatar has never held Hamas accountable for torpedoing talks. They are a uniquely negative factor.”
“Israel was somewhat enchanted by the Qatari charm offensive, and now we see the results,” Ailam continued, warning against “Qatargate”-style scandals. “Our systems allowed this false dance to continue, permitting Qatar to pose as an honest broker when it is neither. Hostage releases came not from Qatari initiatives but from Israeli military pressure. Moreover, the hardest-line negotiators sit in Qatar, not Gaza. They harden positions - the opposite of what should have happened if Qatar really wielded moderating influence. There is reason to suspect Qatar itself is pushing intransigence.”
The Qatari interest, Ailam explained, is that “they calculate time works in Hamas’ favor. They see global pressure on Israel, the shifting world consciousness, and understand there is no reason to hurry while Israel grows more isolated by the day.”
On Qatar’s export of radical concepts to the West, Ailam noted: “The al-Thani family has extremely radical worldviews. They are not jihadists in the classic sense - they don’t aim to conquer the world under a Qatari caliphate, as they know their limits as a state of 200,000 citizens. But their vision is dominance, and jihad is a tool to advance that ambition.”
This drive for influence translates into massive investments. “They are buying Europe,” Ailam said. “They purchase anything that could provide leverage - real estate, corporations, football clubs. Reports say they own a third of London’s skyscrapers. They own part of the Empire State Building, a US symbol. Their airline is among the best in the world. And they have developed a very ‘interesting’ branch of buying politicians - by any means necessary, including cryptocurrency.”
Evidence of this has already emerged in Europe and the US. “Politicians have been caught and some are on trial, in France and elsewhere. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. A whole system has been operating for years, with direct influence inside EU decision-making. It’s not hard to see why Qatar - a dictatorship with no human rights - was nonetheless awarded the World Cup.”