FLASH
Shkruar nga Dominic Waghorn
Israel's airstrike on Doha is not against a hostile country, but against a country with which it has relations, to the horror of the region, causing a major diplomatic crisis...
Israel's airstrike on the Qatari capital, Doha, marks a radical shift in the way Tel Aviv confronts its enemies. In the past, the Mossad and the military used more covert methods, poisonings, stealth assassinations, eliminations with credible deniability. But after October 7, 2023, according to the Israelis, everything has changed.
So when it came time to strike Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in 2024, no sophisticated behind-the-scenes techniques were used: he was killed openly in an airstrike. And now, history has repeated itself, not on an enemy city, but on a country with which Israel has diplomatic relations: Qatar. This has caused shockwaves throughout the region and a deep diplomatic crisis.
Was the attack really justified?
At first glance, one would think that the targets were dangerous figures, an immediate threat to Israel. But that is not entirely the case.
Of course, many of the Hamas leaders targeted by Tel Aviv were involved in organizing attacks that killed hundreds of civilians, including women and children. They cheered the massacres of October 7. But, according to public information, they were not the masterminds of that attack.
From Hamas' political office in Doha to today's target
In 2011, the US persuaded Qatar to allow Hamas to open a political office in Doha. Israel approved the move. The idea was simple: to have a concrete address for negotiations and a channel for millions of dollars to flow to Gaza.
An Israeli official told the media at the time: “We believe that better conditions in Gaza will reduce Hamas’ and the population’s desire for a new war. In a way, this helps deterrence.”
Netanyahu’s critics accused him of deliberately strengthening a wing of Palestinian politics through a cold “divide and rule” policy. However, Tel Aviv accepted the political office in Doha, which was filled with veterans of the movement – many of whom appear to have been on the list of targets for the latest attack.
In an interview with Khaled Meshaal in Doha in 2023, he seemed determined but no longer the dominant ideological figure he had been in Damascus in 2017. Meanwhile, the “strongmen of Gaza” – Yahya Sinwar, Abu Obeida and Muhammad Deif – had taken real command.
Netanyahu and Meshaal: a long confrontation
The latest attack is also seen as part of Netanyahu's ongoing feud with Khaled Meshaal. In 1997, Mossad attempted to assassinate him in Amman, Jordan, by putting poison in his ear. The operation failed, and King Hussein forced Bill Clinton to order Israel to provide him with the antidote that saved his life.
Initial reports suggest that Meshaal may have escaped the latest assassination attempt again. But many of those killed were the very people with whom Israel was communicating indirectly to negotiate the release of the hostages in Gaza.
A blow that complicates the hostage issue
So far, it is not clear how this attack will help the families of the hostages. On the contrary, it seems to take the people with whom negotiations were being held through the Doha channel off the table.
Therefore, for many analysts, this attack makes the possibility of a hostage agreement even more remote, while putting the region in a new spiral of uncertainty. /Adapted from Sky News
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