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Qatari Emir’s Speech at UN Showed Its Loyalty to Hamas; We Must Respond
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on before a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has once again accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza.
In his recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly, al-Thani refused to condemn Hamas — the Iran-backed terror group that instigated the war on October 7, 2023. Instead, he condemned the Jewish State for what he described as “the most barbaric and heinous and extensive” violations of “human values, international charters and norms.”
Al-Thani’s speech demonstrates that Qatar remains loyal to Hamas’ narrative of events in the Middle East, and should not be trusted as an impartial interlocutor between Israel and the terrorist organization.
During this speech, al-Thani never mentioned that Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped some 250 others on October 7.
He never mentioned that the United Nations itself released a report in March delineating “clear and convincing” evidence that Hamas terrorists committed widespread sexual crimes on October 7.
He never mentioned the extraordinary steps that Israel has taken to limit civilian casualties in a combat zone, while Hamas uses schools, hospitals, and even children’s bedrooms as human shields.
Brushing aside the ongoing threat of Iranian-backed terrorism, al-Thani proceeded to applaud Palestinians in Gaza for the enclave’s “remarkable development” over the past 17 years, neglecting to mention that Hamas invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building terrorist infrastructure rather than investing in the economy. He also decried the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, whom the emir styled as a legitimate political official. And al-Thani referred to all Palestinians killed in Gaza as “martyrs,” ignoring the fact that thousands of fatalities were Hamas terrorists.
Next, al-Thani criticized Israel for “waging war on Lebanon,” while failing to mention that Hezbollah initiated the war by launching rockets and drones daily at northern Israel since October 8, 2023, displacing at least 60,000 civilians from their homes, and killing dozens. Furthermore, Israel has made it clear that Israel’s conflict is with Hezbollah, not the people of Lebanon. But that’s apparently lost on al-Thani. He didn’t even name Hezbollah once in his UN address.
Conveniently disregarding the facts, the emir insisted that Israel’s detonation of thousands of communication devices carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon was a “major crime” conducted with “total disregard” for the victims’ “identity or location.” In reality, the attacks are considered the most strictly-limited widespread attack on a terrorist organization in history.
With the region on the precipice of a broader war, al-Thani warned that the violence must stop.
“This is the choice before Israel,” he said, adding that “the State of Qatar will spare no effort in working with its international partners and the United Nations to firmly consolidate the pillars of peace, security, sustainable development, human rights, and the rule of law.”
Placing the onus on Israel to end the war disregards reality, in which Iran’s Axis of Aggression deliberately initiated — unprovoked — a conflict that has targeted not only Israelis, but Americans and other free people around the world as well.
Al-Thani’s assertion that Qatar is committed to peace, security, and human rights is just as deceptive. Qatar harbors Hamas leaders and financiers, provides financial support to Gaza’s Hamas-run government, and amplifies Hamas propaganda on Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the Qatari government continues to abuse the rights of its own population.
In a 2023 report, the US State Department noted “significant human rights issues” in Qatar, including “credible reports” of abuses like “enforced disappearance,” “arbitrary arrest,” and “extensive gender-based violence.”
In the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, Doha came under the spotlight for exploiting migrant workers employed to construct soccer stadiums, by forcing them to work overtime under the blazing sun, often without compensation.
Still, the Biden administration continues to express gratitude to Qatar, and confidence in Doha’s diplomatic services.
On September 25 — one day after al-Thani spoke at the UN — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington remains “grateful” to “our friends from Qatar” for their “tireless efforts to get a ceasefire.” Notably, the administration admitted Qatar to the US Visa Waiver Program, which will allow Qatari citizens to travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa. Blinken said Qatar’s participation in the program “will deepen our strategic partnership and enhance the flow of people and commerce between our two countries.”
The Biden administration must get sober about its partners in Doha. Al-Thani’s UN speech demonstrates that Qatar remains wedded to Hamas’ ideology and should not be trusted as an honest broker or reliable ally of the United States.
Natalie Ecanow is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow Natalie on X @NatalieEcanow.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
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