By Navhind Times

Copyright navhindtimes

Trump exhibited his exasperation by saying that the raid did not “advance Israel or America’s goals” as Qatar was hosting Hamas leaders since 2012 for “indirect negotiations”

There are indications that the Israeli attack on the Hamas office in Doha on September 9, 2025 is heavily recoiling on the Netanyahu government. UK health secretary Wes Streeting warned on September 9 that the “Netanyahu government’s handling of the Gaza war is leading Israel to pariah status”.

This was on the eve of Israeli President Herzog’s visit to the UK to express solidarity with the British Jewish community, which, Herzog’s office alleged, “is under severe attack and facing a wave of anti-Semitism”. However, Streeting insisted that Herzog “needs to answer the allegations of war crimes, of ethnic cleansing and of genocide that are being levelled at the government of Israel”.

‘+ 972 Magazine’, an Israeli left-wing periodical, said in a survey in December 2014 that over 70 per cent of Israelis were worried about international isolation. Israel, which is heavily reliant on foreign trade and investment, has always wished to be part of the western democracies as it has less resilience, unlike Iran and Russia, to “cope economically, militarily, and psychologically with sanctions and global disapprobation”, as the magazine ‘Foreign Policy’ said recently.

Significantly on September 8 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at 10 Downing Street. The PM is reported to have promised “to recognise a Palestinian state ahead of the UN General Assembly later this month unless Israel changes course”. Spain, Ireland and Norway have already announced recognition while Belgium, Australia, Portugal, Canada and Malta have stated plans to go with Britain and France in recognising Palestinian statehood joining more than 140 other countries.

‘Los Angeles Times’ (September 11, 2025) said that American credibility in the Gulf states was the first casualty when Israel attacked the Hamas office in Doha as these states thought that their security was assured with “tens of billions of their petrodollars and agreements that allowed the US to dot the Middle East with some of its largest military facilities”. It was particularly incredulous that Israel, which depends mainly on America for its existence, could attack Qatar, which hosts Al Udeid air base, the largest American military installation in the region.

It was also a personal insult to President Donald Trump as he had signed the US-Qatar economic agreement valued at $1.2 trillion in May this year, which he had described as “historic”, besides accepting a luxury jet as an “unconditional donation”. As a result, the US joined other members at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in condemning the attack, an unprecedented action, as America always vetoes anti-Israel resolutions. During the UNSC meeting Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani alleged that the Israeli government was “led by blusterous extremists”.

Personally, Trump exhibited his exasperation by saying that the raid did not “advance Israel or America’s goals” as Qatar was hosting Hamas leaders since 2012 for “indirect negotiations” with Israel, as desired by America. Also, the Abraham Accords initiated by Trump in September 2020 towards the normalisation of Israel-Arab states relations lay in tatters as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the important signatories, slammed the “blatant and cowardly Israeli attack that targeted the State of Qatar”.

Abu Dhabi also summoned the Israeli ambassador to convey that any aggression against a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member state was considered “an attack on the collective Gulf security framework”. The attack marked the first direct strike by Israel on one of the member states of the GCC. Even before this, relations between Abu Dhabi and Israel had begun to deteriorate after the Netanyahu government’s open threat over a planned discussion on the West Bank annexation, which the UAE had said would constitute a “red line.”

‘Politico’ reported on September 9 that Trump and his top aides had come to question whether Netanyahu, who authorised the strike, “was trying to sabotage the talks”. It quoted a White House insider: “Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he bombs someone, the person said. That’s why the President and his aides are so frustrated with Netanyahu.”

The Israeli newspaper ‘Haaretz’ reported on September 13 that Trump had dinner with the Qatari Prime Minister in New York, days after Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha. They were joined by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Netanyahu had alleged that Qatar was the chief financier of Hamas terrorists besides hosting them in their country. This was contested by independent observers who quoted an op-ed piece in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ in 2023, by the Qatari ambassador to the US, Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani that Washington wanted Qatar “to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas”.

Al Thani had added: “The presence of the Hamas office shouldn’t be confused with endorsement but rather establishes an important channel for indirect communication”. ‘The New York Times’ on December 10, 2023 confirmed that Benjamin Netanyahu had secretly approved this contact through Doha.

In a video address on the 9/11 anniversary, Netanyahu had invoked Israel’s right to attack the ‘terrorists’ base in Doha just as the US had invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 for sending terrorists to attack America on 9/11. This argument has not impressed anybody as the US had first moved the UNSC which had passed Resolution No 1368 that condemned the “horrifying terrorist attacks which took place on September 11, 2001” and called on “all states to work together urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of these terrorist attacks”. The US had taken this as UN authorisation and invaded Afghanistan which had given shelter to Osama bin Laden.

As against this, Israel had continuously been attacking and killing UN personnel extending humanitarian assistance to the Gaza civilians, including women and children. US Democrats senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley confirmed this during their visit (August 24 to September 1) that Israel was doing “ethnic cleansing” of the local population and starving them of food, using hunger as a weapon.

On September 12, Trump predicted that Zohran Mamdani would win the New York city Mayor elections to be held on November 4. The next day Mamdani told the media that he would honour the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Netanyahu and take him into custody if he visits New York.

The Billion Press (Vappala Balachandran is a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.)