UAE: We want secular governments, Qatar has to stop supporting Islamists

Ambassador of the UAE in Washington Yousef Al-Otaiba said that the existence of the leaderships of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Taliban in Doha is not a “coincidence,” agencies reported on Friday.

In a TV interview, he said: “If you asked the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain what kind of Middle East they want to see in 10 years, they would have a view opposed to that of Qatar. We want strong, stable and prosperous secular governments.”

He continued: “In the past ten to 15 years, we saw Qatar supporting groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Taliban and the Islamic militias in Syria and Turkey. This is the opposite direction which we want the region to go.”

The ambassador added: “They [Qatar] want more groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Taliban. I do not think it is a coincidence that Hamas leadership, Taliban embassy, Muslim Brotherhood leaders and a group of speakers at Aljazeera encouraging and justifying suicide bombings are based in Doha.”

Concluding his remarks, he said that if Qatar is free to choose retention of this foreign policy and free to say no to the blockading countries’ demands. “Then, we have the right to say we do not want to maintain relations with it.”