Qatar fools world by claiming to provide political dialogue with terrorists: French report

CAIRO – 28 October 2017: The French website “Therese Zrihen” slammed Qatar’s stubbornness in supporting terrorist organizations, claiming that it has been double-dealing in the Middle East for decades, as it destabilizes its neighbours while acting as though it is paying lip service to Gulf Arab unity.

The report accused Qatar, the world's largest exporter of natural gas, of using part of its wealth to finance extremist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban, Hamas and al-Qaeda.

Therese Zrihen referred to Doha as the 21st-century version of Rick’s Café from the classic 1942 film “Casablanca”, where Islamists, not freedom fighters, keep a low-profile in the safe haven.

“Only in Doha can one see Muslim Brotherhood leaders from Egypt rubbing shoulders with Taliban leaders from Afghanistan and Hamas leaders from Gaza,” the report read, asserting that all those extremists receive personal support from Qatar’s emir. The report slammed the policy of Qatar’s state-owned channel Al-Jazeera, which used to be, and still is, a platform of the opinions and statements of all extremists, even the late leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

“The Qatari government argues that they are simply providing a venue for political dialogue by allowing radical groups to maintain homes and offices in their country. However, that does not explain their funding for such groups and their usage of their state media to broadcast sympathetic coverage,” Therese Zrihen published on Friday, in reference to the game Doha plays to persuade the world of its good intents in harboring all those extremists.

Qatar was the only Gulf country that didn’t agreed with the latest speech of U.S. President Donald Trump, where he threatened to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran if it didn’t change its policies, in another proof that Qatar has strong ties with Tehran.

On Monday, the Hudson Institute held an event attended by senior members of the Trump administration, like former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.

Bannon stated at that event that he felt the Qatar crisis was more important than the situation on the Korean peninsula.

This summer, Doha built much closer economic and political ties with Iran,which proved President Trump correct when he backed the stance of the Arab Anti-Terror Quartet.

At the end, the report advised the Trump administration to relocate the U.S. military assets at the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar to a genuine ally in the region if Qatar does not leave the Iranian orbit of influence.