Stop Hate Speech Now

Qatar-Turkey relations are "exceptional, permanent, and enduring," said Qatari Ambassador to Turkey Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi in a recent interview with a Turkish daily. He added that the ties between the two countries are based on solid foundations and are an "example to be emulated." The ambassador, speaking to the Turkish language daily, Hürriyet, on Tuesday applauded Turkey's unwavering support of Qatar, something he said dates back to the Ottoman era. "These relations are not recent, rather they go back to the era of the Ottoman Empire. Historical records show from 1916 show solidarity between the ruler of the State of Qatar Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani and the Ottomans," Al Shafi said, adding that the alliance between the two states remains intact since it was founded on "truth, loyalty and common values." Al Shafi referred to Turkey's support for Qatar during the 2017 blockade as well as his country's stance...

Bahrain’s human rights body slammed the silence over Qatar’s continuous targeting of local fishermen in the kingdom’s territorial waters, state news agency BNA reported. The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) expressed concern over the silence of NGOs on Qatar’s violations of human rights, BNA reported on Friday, without naming the accused organizations. Bahrain’s Interior Minister Rashid Al-Khalifa issued a warning to Qatari authorities earlier this week and described Qatar’s actions towards Bahraini fishermen as “brutal.” The minister said that in the last 10 years, Qatar had stopped hundreds of boats with official Bahraini IDs after claiming they were in Qatari waters. However, the fishermen had been fishing in those areas for centuries without any violation, the minister said, adding that it was well known that those areas were part of Bahrain. The minister said the fishermen were arrested in a hostile and humiliated manner. “According to Bahraini fishermen, t...

by  Jordan Cope A reconciliation is only as great as its specific terms and implementation. With normalization deals proliferating across the Middle East, one of the biggest might soon resolve an ongoing proxy war between Qatar and the "Quartet," an alliance composed of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. There are many rumors surrounding the supposedly impending deal. One source predicts Saudi Arabia will end its years-long blockade in return for Qatar dropping its related lawsuits against it. Another source predicts a deal honing coexistence, rather than reconciliation. Speculation abounds after Doha received 13 demands, including ultimatums to shed its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to close its Al Jazeera Network. The U.S. also has a stake, hoping to resolve a feud that has compromised efforts to counter the Iranian regime. As promising as reconciliation would be, the Quartet must refuse any de...

Bahrain on Thursday rejected a letter sent by Qatar to the UN Security Council on an alleged violation of its airspace by four Bahraini fighter jets.  “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain affirms that the Qatari authorities’ claim that four fighters from the Royal Bahraini Air Force violated their airspace on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, is irresponsible and baseless,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that on that date, two F-16 aircraft of Bahrain together with two more from the US were on a military drill in the designated military exercise area in Saudi Arabia’s airspace. It said that after the exercises ended, the planes headed back to Bahrain, crossing the airspace of Saudi Arabia, to land at Isa Air Base. “The ministry affirms that this is the usual exit route from the military drill area towards the airspace of the Kingdom of Bahrain and that on their way back, the aircraft have not used the Qatari airspace as the ...

 Qatari authorities have failed to provide redress for hundreds of migrant workers who are suffering from months of unpaid wages at two companies, even though authorities have repeatedly been informed of these abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. The Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund, which the government established in 2018 specifically to ensure that workers are paid their wages when companies fail to pay, has not been utilized to benefit these struggling workers in the two companies. “It is disheartening that hundreds of workers in at least two companies are struggling to obtain their unpaid wages even though the Qatari government has been made aware of these abuses over and over again,” said Maham Javaid , Middle East fellow at Human Rights Watch. “The Qatari government’s failure to ensure that workers are paid underlines the disappointing gap between Qatar’s promises of reform and the reality.” On September 28, 2020, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Qatari autho...

By Mohamed Alodadi Since Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain severed diplomatic relations with the Qatar and imposed an air, land, and sea embargo, the country has not altered its behavior. With talks of normalization with Qatar on the horizon, the boycotting states should acknowledge that none of their demands have been met. Qatar has been playing the victim as it lobbies the US and the European Union to pressure the boycotting countries to re-establish diplomatic relations and lift the embargo. Unfortunately, some American and European politicians and diplomats seem to believe the Qatari narrative of victimhood and its argument that the boycotting countries are trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Qatar, infringe its sovereignty, and stifle the freedom of the press there. Most often, Qatar cites the boycotting countries’ demands as interference in its internal affairs. When the boycott was launched, the Arab Quartet gave a list of 13 demands. Among them was...

The exposure of Muslim Brotherhood networks in France led to President Emanuel Macron’s tougher stance on extremism, experts said, as they urged other nations to follow suit. In an online seminar on France’s steps to tackle Islamist extremism hosted by think tank the Henry Jackson Society, experts called for the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar’s financing in foreign states to be examined. France launched a crackdown on radical groups after the murder of teacher Samuel Paty who had shown students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during a lesson on free speech, and a subsequent attack in Nice’s largest church that killed three people. This month, the French government unveiled draft legislation aimed at better arming France against radicalism, a project promoted by Mr Macron to root out what he calls separatists undermining the nation. The bill targets home schools, mosques or associations that circulate an ideology running counter to French values, which authorities are calling...

Three of Qatar’s leading financial institutions are accused of secretly funnelling funds to terrorist groups responsible for the killings of US citizens, new court papers allege. A lawsuit filed in New York this week by the family of Pinches Przewozman, an American who was killed in a rocket attack in Israel from the Gaza Strip last year, claims Qatar’s government and royal family spearheaded “a terrorism financing conspiracy”. The US complaints allege payments under the guise of Qatari charitable donations have moved through the US banking system since 2014 into accounts maintained by Qatar National Bank and used by Hamas leaders and militants and their relatives. Qatar Charity eventually transferred a substantial portion of those funds to Hamas, PIJ, and supposed charities controlled by those terrorist organisations In June, a similar lawsuit was lodged against Qatar in the US and last month eight Syrian refugees became the first of a further 330 to bring a case for damag...

There is no doubt that the Internet has become the primary tool used by countries and other entities to serve their agendas and facilitate the flow of information in a super-timely manner. Topics that encompass all walks of life and all sorts of files that surpass any imagination have become easily accessible through the Internet. However, one country in the Middle East decided to use its financial resources to advance causes that are considered malignant according to the principles of civilized societies. Qatar has been enlisting these digital tools to serve a wide range of goals that go beyond its borders or internal interests. Meddling with both regional and international affairs has become one of the characteristics of this rich Gulf state. Counting on almost limitless financial support from the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, the Qatari Al-Jazeera TV station was established in 1996. It attracted renowned Arab journalists from international stations such as t...

Qatar will be implicated in funding and enabling shipments of drone components from China and Europe to Yemen's Houthi Rebels. In a meeting next week in Europe, US security contractors will present information to an international panel investigating materiel shipments to the Iran-backed militia. One of the handful of contractors involved told The National that the US team had information on the officials involved, as well as documentation of money transfers and gold shipments that enabled the purchases. An official report on the Houthis' “client relationship” with Qatar is due to be published in the first few months of next year. The experts tracking the trade have given warnings of its increasing sophistication after shipments were seized last year. “The report of the experts will rely on witnesses who were contractors" for the figures involved," one of those who have come forward to testify told The National. Since the Houthi takeover of parts of Yemen i...

A Qatari royal and his family spent millions of Malaga FC’s funds on high-performance cars and luxury properties, leaving the Spanish club on the brink of collapse. Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, who bought the team in 2010 for €36 million ($43.7m), now owes the club €8.5m, a Spanish court ruled. Papers reveal the money was spent on personal luxuries including flights, properties, holidays, hotels and chauffeur-driven cars. This left Malaga, which reached the Champions League quarter-finals after his investment, facing bankruptcy and collapse after relegation from La Liga in 2018. The long-suffering fans this month claimed a small victory in their fight to salvage their club, when Malaga City Council stripped Sheikh Abdullah’s name from the stadium’s roundabout and renamed it the 'Roundabout of the Malaguista' after the supporters. Culture and Sports Minister Noelia Losada tweeted that it was a “well-deserved change of name to reward those who really feel the ...

U.S. victims of extremist violence in Israel allege that three of Qatar’s leading financial institutions have secretly funneled millions of dollars to Palestinian groups responsible for killing Americans, accusing a key U.S. ally in the Middle East of duplicity. In U.S. lawsuits, victims and their families claim that the government and royal family members of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation have spearheaded “a terrorism financing conspiracy” that has channeled tens of millions of dollars to support Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), both U.S.-designated terrorist groups. The initial two complaints, filed in federal court in June and on Tuesday in Brooklyn, assert that payments made under the guise of Qatari charitable donations have moved through the U.S. banking system since 2014 and landed in dozens of accounts that are maintained by Qatar National Bank and used by Hamas leaders and militants and their relatives. The funds allegedly assisted seven strikes, includi...

Qatar is trying to strike a reconciliation deal with other Gulf states while still funding terrorism, a Middle East analyst said. Nearly four years after severing ties with Doha over its support for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have been urged to ensure a commitment to ending terror financing is included in any agreement. They imposed a boycott in 2017 over Doha’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other terrorist groups, its strong ties with Iran and its interference in the internal affairs of its neighbours. “As promising as reconciliation would be, the Quartet must refuse any deal that excludes Qatar's unequivocal promise to cease its profligate terrorism financing," said Jordan Cope, a US analyst with the Middle East Forum. Mr Cope, a law student studying at the University of Texas, said the terrorism funding had destabilised an entire region. “Restoring previous ties at any other cost would convey a renewed tolerance, and t...

Qatar's regime, alarmed at the blockbuster $23 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates, has drawn flak for its own lobbying attempts in the US to purchase F-35 fighter jets. "Given Qatar's track record of financing and helping terrorists – and given Qatar's extraordinary links with Iran – giving Qatar F-35s will undermine the advantage of the US, Israel and their regional allies," Ghanem Nuseibeh, founder of the London-based Cornerstone Global Associates, told Israeli media. Nuseibeh added that selling Qatar F-35s would be a strategic mistake, not least because it lacks the manpower to use them. He also queried why Qatar should want them. According to an article in Foreign Lobby Report, US President Donald Trump's proposed $10 billion sale of 50 of the advanced fighters to the UAE – which despite some opposition narrowly made it through Congress Wednesday night – caused Qatar, through the offices of South Carolina-based Nelson Mullins Riley ...

The Turkish government’s ties with Qatar have put a spotlight on the growing problem of transparency and accountability in Turkey’s defense industry, with a key tank project awarded to a Turkish-Qatari joint venture appearing to be on the rocks. A raft of fresh deals with Qatar in late November rekindled opposition criticism that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s close bonds with Qatar’s ruler lack transparency and flout Turkey’s national interests. During a live TV debate Nov. 29, opposition lawmaker Ali Mahir Basarir fiercely criticized the government over the privatization of a national tank factory in Arifiye in the northwestern province of Sakarya. The Turkish military has been “sold off to Qatar” for $50 million, he said, adding that the factory was its “most strategic” asset. Basarir, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was referring to the factory’s 25-year lease to BMC, a Turkish-Qatari venture, by a presidential decree last year. Ethem ...

A Qatari royal continues to languish in a Doha prison despite a desperate appeal to the UN Human Rights Council for his release by his wife two months ago. Sheikh Talal bin Abdul Al Thani, a grandson of the former emir Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al-Thani, has been in prison for seven years. His wife, Asma Arian,alleged he has been tortured and ill-treated by the Qatari authorities and denied medical care as his health deteriorates. She delivered a statement to the Geneva-based council on a report by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Qatar, which it visited last year. “He’s been arbitrarily detained in Qatar for over seven years — years of suffering for our children and me, and torture and despair for him,” Arian, who lives in Germany with her four children, said. “He’s in incommunicado detention and suffers from severe medical conditions he developed in prison. “My husband needs urgent medical care and a lawyer he chooses freely.” Arian says her husband was detained in ...

Qatar’s purchase of a 10 per cent stake in the Istanbul stock exchange last month drew attention to the huge amounts of money being pumped into the Turkish economy by its Gulf ally. The $200 million deal between the Turkey Wealth Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) was one of 10 agreements signed when Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani visited Ankara on November 26. During the visit the QIA snapped up a 30 per cent stake in Istinye Park, a luxury shopping centre in Istanbul, for a reported $300m from Dogus Holding, a company that has been hard hit by the fall in the lira’s value this year. Meanwhile, QTerminals, a partly state-owned Qatari port operator, spent $140m on the contract for Antalya’s Port Akdeniz from Global Ports Holding. An unspecified amount was invested in Istanbul’s Golden Horn Marina project while agreements were signed on trade promotion, economic co-operation and diplomatic exchanges. While trade between the countries rose 6 per cent last year, Qatar’s...

Migrants from Bangladesh, India and Nepal working on the refurbishment of the showcase Khalifa Stadium and landscaping the surrounding gardens and sporting facilities known as the “Aspire Zone” are being exploited. Some are being subjected to forced labour. They can’t change jobs, they can’t leave the country and they often wait months to get paid.  Meanwhile, FIFA (football’s global governing body), its sponsors and the construction companies involved are set to make massive financial gains from the tournament. We have found several ways that some workers building the Khalifa Stadium and the Aspire Zone are being exploited… 1. Expensive recruitment fees Many migrants seek work in Qatar to escape poverty and unemployment in countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and India. But to get a job they have to pay high fees. The workers we spoke to paid amounts ranging from US$500 to US$4,300 to unscrupulous recruitment agents in their home country. Many are in debt, which makes t...

Dutch football association KNVB must be more vocal in speaking out against human rights violations happening in Qatar, Amnesty International said ahead of the draw for the qualifiers in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Human rights violations have been widespread since the county was awarded the event in 2010, the human rights organization said, NOS reports. According to Amnesty International, 2 million migrant workers have been working in horrible conditions on the construction of World Cup stadiums and the infrastructure. They get paid little to nothing. An estimated 1 thousand migrant workers have already died during stadium construction, the organization said. That figure is just an estimate because Qatar will not release official figures. "The pressure exerted in recent years brought about reforms. But that is mainly on paper. In practice, a lot of things still go wrong and people who work on the World Cup are still dying," Amnesty International spokesperson Emil...

Qatar’s public criticism of the Abraham Accords has been called out by an Israeli politician who long worked in Doha to establish ties that he said the Gulf state was keen to make without any concessions to improve the lives of the Palestinian people. In an interview on Saturday with Sky News Arabia, Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset member Eli Avidar, 54, who ran an Israeli trade mission in Qatar between 1999 and 2001, accused Qatar of a double standard and hypocrisy in dealing with Israel and Arab states. The Egypt-born former diplomat stated that at the time Israel agreed with Qatar to open up relations between the two nations, the Palestinian people's plight was never raised. Doha was, he said, only interested in strengthening Qatari-Israeli relations for personal benefit. Mr Avidar said that everyone in the Qatari government denied or were not aware of the existence of the trade office he ran in Doha, yet then prime minister Hamad bin Jassim flaunted Qatar-Israeli relations...

The Qatari government has moved to cancel a subsidy for the Australian lamb industry, even as Australia’s agriculture and meat sector continues to reel from Chinese import bans. Australia’s $300m-a-year lamb trade with Qatar has been underpinned by a subsidy program in place since 2015. It was due to finish in 2023, but the Qatari government made the sudden move to cancel the deal as of 31 December. It comes after the Australian government “registered its strong disapproval and outrage ” at the treatment of Australian women who were subjected to compulsory intimate medical examinations at Doha airport. Stephen Crisp, chief executive officer at Sheep Producers Australia, said that the industry was not expecting the decision. “It was a surprise. I don’t think we were ready for this. But we’re fortunate to be in a very adaptable industry. We service many, many countries, so we can adapt.” Industry insiders told the Guardian they were reluctant to link the decision by the Qatar...