Seth Mandel
Commentary, Jan. 28, 2025
“Qatar is playing games with Israel’s domestic politics.”
The Qatari prime minister is taking a victory lap over the hostage deal his government helped negotiate. That may seem inevitable and perhaps even earned, but a wide-ranging interview that Mohammed Al-Thani gave to Israel’s Channel 12 showed precisely why the Qataris are untrustworthy interlocutors and how they operate in bad faith even when their goals ostensibly line up with those of the West.
So far, the cease-fire deal is holding but remains precarious, as always. Seven female hostages have been released and Gazans are returning to their homes in the north. By Thursday, Hamas’s arrangement of the return of hostage Arbel Yehud from another terrorist group should bring Hamas into compliance with the deal for the first time. The terrorist organization has thus far withheld information, unilaterally reordered the release plan, and engaged in other violations.
Qatar, as Hamas’s patron, has enabled this behavior from the beginning and exercised no restraint on Hamas. Thani spends some of his discussion with Channel 12 whining about the perception of his country as nothing more than a bank of fools in Hamas’s corner.
All of this is run-of-the-mill politicking until Thani crosses a particular line.
“What we really feel sad about is that it took [this long] to get to an agreement that we agreed on the framework of back in December 2023,” he said. ...SOURCE