Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about Qatar on Saturday “as lacking the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility.”
That was after the Israeli prime minister’s office shared Netanyahu’s statement, saying: “After the October 7 atrocities, Prime Minister Netanyahu defined the War of Redemption as a war between civilization and barbarism.
“The time has come for Qatar to stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas barbarism. Israel will win this just war with just means,” it said.
Al-Ansari said that “portraying the continued aggression on Gaza as a defence of ‘civilization’ echoes the rhetoric of regimes throughout history that have used false narratives to justify crimes against innocent civilians.”
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Qatar has closely collaborated with partners to advance efforts to halt the Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip, safeguarding civilians and facilitating the release of hostages and detainees since the war started 7 October 2023, he added.
“A legitimate question must be raised: were no fewer than 138 hostages released through so-called ‘just’ military operations, or through the very mediation that is now being unjustly criticized and undermined?” asked Al-Ansari.
Noting that Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing “one of the worst” humanitarian tragedies in modern times, including the “suffocating” siege and deprivation of medicine and shelter, he asked: “Is this truly the model of ‘civilization’ being promoted?”
More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since late 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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