After Doha strike, Netanyahu steps up verbal attack on Qatar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up his verbal attack on Qatar on Tuesday evening, a week after the bombing of its capital, Doha.

This came during a press conference he held at his office in West Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew newspapers Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv.

“I had strong criticism of Qatar, and I expressed it during the war,” Netanyahu said.

He claimed that “if Qatar had wanted to, it could have easily applied much stronger pressure that would have helped us free all our hostages,” referring to the Israelis held in Gaza.

Netanyahu continued his accusations, saying: “Qatar is linked to Hamas, supports Hamas, hosts Hamas, and funds Hamas.”

He added: “Turn on Al Jazeera, and you will see, it is hell — hell of antisemitism, of anti-Zionism, and hell of anti-Americanism for many years.”

Trying to justify his country’s attack on Qatar, Netanyahu referred to UN Security Council Resolution 1373, issued two weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001, saying that the United Nations had decided terrorists must be targeted wherever they are, and should be treated as such even if they receive shelter, funding, or protection from any state.

Netanyahu concluded: “Based on that resolution, the United States bombed Afghanistan because terrorists were there. Then it also bombed Pakistan.”