Why the Qatar boycott should remain in place


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 that Doha shut down Al Jazeera, sever all ties with terrorist organizations – including the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, al-Qaeda and Iran-backed Hezbollah – scale back cooperation with Iran, hand over terrorist figures harbored in Qatar, and stop granting citizenship to wanted nationals from the boycotting quartet.

Over the years, Qatar has actively tried to undermine the boycotting countries, and unless Qatar drastically changes its behavior by ceasing support for extremist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the boycott should remain in place.
One of the principle complaints the boycott had of Qatar was its use of Al Jazeera, that some countries,
including Iraq , argue airs news programs that incite hatred, violence and acts of terrorism with its bellicose Arabic language rhetoric.

I distinctly remember how Al Jazeera programming in the late 1990s and early 2000s was exclusively directed against the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia, and how violence and terrorism against Americans and Europeans living and working in Saudi Arabia was instigated by Al Jazeera and by Saudi Arabian and non-Saudi Arabian clerics whose views were aired on Al Jazeera. Both Al Jazeera and the clerics cited a saying ascribed to Prophet Mohammed to expel Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula.

When the American forces relocated to Al-Udaid airbase in Qatar in 2002, the calls for “expelling the Jews and the Christians from the Arabian Peninsula” disappeared from the rhetoric of both Al Jazeera and the clerics.
I remember, also, how Al Jazeera became the mouthpiece of Al Qaeda and of Osama bin Laden during the US invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York City.

We should not forget that in 2004 the US complained about Al Jazeera’s coverage of the war on terror in Afghanistan. Three years prior, Al Jazeera’s Kabul office was bombed by a US missile. The US government has never acknowledged the bombing, but a memo leaked in 2004 gave impetus to the belief that the strike was intentional.

Some saw Al Jazeera’s lopsided reporting as being partly responsible for the violence against Americans in Saudi Arabia, and further placed blame on Qatar for inciting violence in Eastern Saudi Arabia and in Bahrain following the Arab Spring uprisings. In 2015, a Qatar-based cleric called for protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak, saying that Mohamed Morsi, the previously elected president who belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, was the legitimate leader.

More recently, recordings of senior Qatari officials have surfaced in which the former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khaliah, the father of the current Emir, conspired with Libya’s late dictator Muammar Al-Gaddafi to assassinate the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

Qatar has referred to itself as “Ka’abat Almadhyoom” which, loosely translated, means “sanctuary for the oppressed.” But for close to a quarter of a century, Qatar has been staging a clandestine war against its Arab Gulf neighbors and has offered refuge to extremists, sheltering them in Doha.
The Arab Gulf state has not altered its behavior since 2017, and until Doha is ready to make some serious adjustments, stop harboring international fugitives, and work to become a regional partner, the boycott should remain in place.

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