Qatar’s support for Islamist terror groups gives the small nation significant geopolitical leverage in its role as a mediator in Middle East conflicts.
asserted
support → give → conflicts
Its strategy of attempting to position itself as a global mediator goes beyond neutral diplomacy, as it maintains relationships with actors that fuel conflicts while presenting itself to the world as a broker capable of solving those very conflicts.
asserted
that → attempt → conflicts
To understand the wealthy Gulf state of roughly three-million people — foreign workers constitute up to 94 per cent of its workforce — it is useful to examine how the Al Thani ruling family welcomed prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures fleeing Egypt’s crackdown.
asserted
family → understand → crackdown
Among them was Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a student of Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood — a transnational Sunni Islamist organization — in 1928.
asserted
who → found → 1928
In 1962, al-Qaradawi was appointed head of the Qatari Secondary Institute of Religious Studies, and went on to lead the department of Islamic studies at Qatar University.
asserted
Qaradawi → appoint → University
Al-Qaradawi was granted Qatari citizenship in 1968 and became one of the Brotherhood’s most influential voices.
asserted
Qaradawi → grant → voices
His Al-Jazeera program, “Sharia and Life,” reached an estimated 40- to 60-million viewers worldwide.
asserted
program → reach → viewers
Al-Qaradawi drew international controversy for issuing several fatwas — legal rulings on matters of Islamic law — permitting and encouraging suicide bombings.
asserted
Qaradawi → draw → bombings
In 1999, al-Qaradawi was barred from the United States.
asserted
Qaradawi → bar → States
In 2008, he was barred from Britain.
asserted
he → bar → Britain
And in 2012, he was prohibited from entering France by then-president Nicolas Sarkozy following the al-Qaida-inspired Toulouse attacks.
asserted
he → prohibit → attacks
When he died in 2022, his funeral in Doha was attended by a senior member of the Al Thani family, Qatari ministers, as well as two senior Hamas figures.
asserted
funeral → die → family
But Qatar’s relationship with the Brotherhood did not end with providing refuge to its exiled leaders.
asserted
relationship → end → leaders
Doha continues to support, harbour and fund the group’s regional branches, including its offshoot Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, Israel, Australia, Japan, the European Union and others.
asserted
which → continue → States
Then came Al-Jazeera, the cable news network established in Doha in 1996.
asserted
Jazeera → come → 1996
It quickly became one of the Arab world’s most-watched networks and Qatar’s most powerful soft-power tool, amplifying Islamist voices while extending Doha’s regional influence.
asserted
It → become → influence
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice determined that AJ+, a subsidiary of the Al-Jazeera Media Network, should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, concluding that it engages in “political activities” on behalf of the Qatari government and is designed, among other things, to “influence American perceptions” of domestic and foreign policy.
asserted
it → determine → policy
The Muslim Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organization more than a decade ago by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
asserted
Brotherhood → designate → Egypt
More recently, the United States designated its Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters as terror groups.
asserted
States → designate → groups
Qatar’s regional tensions came to a head in 2017, when Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Doha and imposed a de facto blockade, citing its support for terrorism, ties to Islamist groups, relationship with Iran and the role of Al-Jazeera.
asserted
Arabia → come → Jazeera
Iran helped Qatar weather the crisis by providing food supplies, airspace and trade routes after Saudi Arabia closed its land border and the other states barred Qatar Airways from their airspace.
asserted
states → help → airspace
Iranian exports to Qatar subsequently surged from roughly $60 million in 2016 to $250 million the following year.
asserted
exports → surge → million
In 2021, a reconciliation agreement signed in Saudi Arabia restored relations with the Arab quartet, but Qatar maintained its ties with Tehran and continues to reject the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as terrorist organizations.
asserted
Qatar → sign → organizations
What does Qatar think of al-Qaida?
asserted
Qatar → think → Qaida
Syria offers perhaps the clearest answer.
asserted
Syria → offer → answer
Between 2012 and 2015, multiple reports documented Qatari support for the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2012.
asserted
U.S. → document → 2012
In 2015, the U.S. State Department also warned about continued financial support from individuals and entities in Qatar to terrorist groups, particularly Al-Qaida affiliates such as the Al-Nusra Front.
asserted
Department → warn → Front
Qatar has continued to use Islamist movements as a soft-power instrument, leveraging relationships with terrorist actors to expand its regional influence well beyond its size.
asserted
Qatar → continue → size
I saw this firsthand while covering the Libyan civil war for CNN in 2011, where I met and interviewed Muslim Brotherhood-aligned leaders and fighters who were receiving millions in Qatari support, including Abdelhakim Belhaj and Ali al-Sallabi.
asserted
who → see → Belhaj
Doha also funded Libya TV, a satellite channel operating from Qatar that amplified the opposition while giving prominent space to Islamist voices.
asserted
that → fund → voices
The strategy was to cultivate Islamist networks, amplify their narratives and convert that influence into regional power.
asserted
strategy → cultivate → power
For more than a decade, Qatar has effectively played both arsonist and firefighter — maintaining relationships with, and at times supporting, the very militant groups whose actions help create the crises it later offers to mediate.
asserted
it → play → crises
One year ago, senior Hamas leaders based in Qatar narrowly escaped an Israeli airstrike on a meeting in Doha.
asserted
leaders → base → Doha
The strike marked the first-ever direct Israeli military attack on Qatar and on any member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
asserted
strike → mark → Council
The failed strike exposed the contradiction at the heart of Qatar’s regional role: presenting itself as a neutral mediator while simultaneously hosting Hamas’s political leadership and maintaining close ties with the group.
asserted
strike → fail → group
The Qataris will be watching Israel’s Oct. 27 election closely, particularly former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who has vowed to designate Qatar an enemy state if elected.
asserted
Qatar → watch → election
Bennett said Qatar “works against us and poisons us from within.”
asserted
Qatar → say → within
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently echoed his criticism, calling Qatar a “hostile state.”
asserted
Netanyahu → echo → Qatar
A Qatari government spokesman responded to Netanyahu’s remarks at a press conference, calling them a smear campaign and adding that Israeli officials “know Qatar has thick skin and that it will not be deterred by such rhetoric, which is used for internal consumption.”
To gauge where relations between Qatar and Israel may be heading, I recently spoke with Tal Heinrich, an Israeli journalist and former Netanyahu spokesperson.
uncertain
I → respond → Heinrich
I also asked her about Qatar’s funding of U.S. higher education, which, according to the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, amounts to billions of dollars over the years.
uncertain
which → ask → years
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
