By Sara Flounders
September 17, 2025

Israeli warplanes bombed Doha, Qatar’s capital, Sept. 9, targeting but failing to assassinate Hamas’s leading negotiators at U.S.-arranged talks with Israel. Hamas confirmed that five members were killed, including the son of exiled Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya.

The bombing is a public humiliation, removing any pretense of Gulf State sovereignty. Following international condemnation, including denunciations in the United Nations Security Council and President Trump’s worthless promise that the attack will not happen again, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel was prepared to again strike Hamas in Qatar. (CBS News, Sept. 12)

The attack and the apparent U.S. approval signals a new level of U.S.-Israeli desperation with their ongoing attempt to reshape all of West Asia, North Africa and the Gulf Region. The bombing removed the fig leaf of national sovereignty for the Emirates.

Israel’s bombing – no surprise

The U.S. Central Command headquarters, located in Qatar, houses 10,000 U.S. military personnel at Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. airbase in West Asia.

Qatar has paid billions of dollars toward the construction, expansion and upkeep of the U.S. base.

How could Israel possibly evade U.S. satellite surveillance and supposedly evade all intelligence interception and strike a building in a high-security neighborhood, which is only 20 miles from the Al Udeid Air Base?

The Israeli warplanes flew more than 1,000 miles over multiple Arab countries, most containing at least one of the 19 U.S. military bases in the region. U.S. bases track incoming aircraft. They detect missiles’ heat signatures.

The attack involved 15 Israeli jets, launched long-range precision missiles and required in-flight refueling to drop over 10 explosive munitions on their target in the West Bay Lagoon area under especially high security. It is close to Doha’s central business district and home to many foreign embassies and wealthy residences.

The Gulf states’ advanced radar systems are under U.S. operational “cooperation.” This includes Qatar’s U.S.-supplied Patriot batteries, which made no response to the Israeli attack. This U.S.-supplied security umbrella did nothing to stop the attack, which the U.S. contacted Qatari officials about “10 minutes after the attack.” (BBC, Sept. 10)

Qatar bought protection, got stiffed

Qatar, an emirate on the west coast of the Persian Gulf, has paid billions of dollars in protection money to the U.S. for generations to maintain its family rule. Trump demanded and got far more.

According to a White House Fact Sheet on May 14, 2025, based on a state visit, Trump secured a commitment from oil-rich Qatar for $1.2 trillion in economic exchange.

This package secured for Boeing its largest-ever order of $96 billion for 210 aircraft. There were multibillion dollar deals for GE Aerospace engines and for McDermott International in energy. Parsons Corporation, a technology infrastructure firm, was promised 30 projects worth $97 billion. Quantinuum Corporation, Raytheon RTX, General Atomics,  ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips Chemical all benefited.

Qatar also pledged significant investments in the United States. Qatar topped it off by donating a luxury Boeing 747 aircraft, described as “a palace in the sky,” for Trump to use as Air Force One.

On the same trip to the region, Trump secured a $600 billion investment commitment from the absolute monarchy in Saudi Arabia.

Qatar – ‘a special place’

In return for the Qatar deal, Trump pledged: “We are going to protect this country. … It’s a very special place, with a special royal family.”

Trump quickly abandoned protection of Qatar. But it is worth examining what makes the emirate special.

Qatar is an absolute monarchy with a population of 3.1 million people. Some 89% of people living there are guest or migrant workers, not citizens. These workers have no rights. The tiny number of Qatari “citizens” have the greatest gross domestic product per capita in the region and one of the highest in the world.

The British Empire ruled Qatar from 1867 until 1971 through the local emir, with the Al Thani family as their surrogate. The 1892 census counted only 9,830 Qataris. Then oil was discovered in the 1930s and in 1971 the world’s largest gas reservoir.

The current emir is Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who holds almost unchecked executive and legislative power. The emir appoints the prime minister, cabinet members and advisers. Political parties and trade unions are banned.

Arab Islamic summit in Qatar

Qatar is hosting a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders to seek a collective response to Israel’s attack on Hamas officials in Doha. Each of the Gulf States monarchies immediately pledged to “stand with Qatar without limit.”

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the 22-member Arab League will attend the summit, including top government leaders from Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Iraq.

New threats to Türkiye

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be in Doha.

Following the Sept. 9 failed Israeli strike on Resistance leadership, Israel openly threatened to next bomb Türkiye to strike Hamas offices. Relations were already broken.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced Aug. 29 that Türkiye was closing its airspace entirely to Israeli planes and severing all commercial and economic ties with Israel.

Türkiye is a NATO member and hosts at least four major U.S. bases and numerous other facilities.

Turkish Defense Ministry spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk warned in Ankara on Sept.11 that Israel would “further expand its reckless attacks, as it did in Qatar, and drag the entire region, including its own country, into disaster.” (ynetnews.com, Sept. 14)

The U.S. and Israel have cast aside all past diplomatic conduct, international laws, security agreements and any respect for national sovereignty. Palestinian resistance continues despite a depraved level of destruction, and a world movement is gaining determined momentum.