By Images Staff
Copyright dawn
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the Internal Security Agency — known commonly as the Shin Bet — conducted an airstrike on a residential compound housing senior Palestinian leaders in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday. A senior Hamas source told Al Jazeera that leaders of the group were targeted while discussing United States President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The IDF acknowledged the attack minutes after the news broke, with a post on X. The Israeli prime minister’s office later said in a post on the platform “Israel initiated [the action], Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility”. Condemnation was swift — the spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry called the attack “cowardly” and “a blatant violation of all international laws and norms”. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs used similar language warning of “the grave consequences of the Israeli occupation’s persistent criminal assaults”. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the Emir of Qatar in a phone call that “Pakistan stands firmly with Qatar in this grave hour and calls for unity within the Ummah against such aggression”.
The real outrage however, was seen on X, where people expressed their outrage at the blatant attack. Dutch football star Anwar El Ghazi, who happened to be in Doha as Israeli warplanes struck the city, asked when the world would wake up.
Journalist Mohammed El Kurd asked who else could get away with blatantly attacking sovereign nations like Israel does and a commenter was happy to point out the link between Israel and colonial powers behaving similarly in centuries past.
Palestinian writer and policy analyst Dr Yara Hawari blamed Western imperialism for Israeli aggression while journalist Mehdi Hasan called Israel a “rogue state”, pointing out all the different places Israel has attacked and bombed in the past year. Israel assassinated Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi-led government in Yemen, in an airstrike on August 28.
There were questions raised about the lack of defensive preparedness in Qatar and how effective American security guarantees to the Gulf state really were. Qatar hosts a significant American military presence with 10,000 US troops deployed to the country’s Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US base in the Middle East and the forward headquarters for US Central Command.
The speaker of Israel Knesset posted a video of Israel’s attack on X with an Arabic caption saying “This is a message to all of the Middle East.” Reactions to the provocative statement were understandably angry, but nobody was surprised that an Israeli government official would say such a thing.
UK Member of Parliament (MP) and former opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded an end to arms sales to Israel. Similar calls were made by US Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Rashida Tlaib as well as Canadian MP Heather McPherson. Many are looking to the example of Spain, who announced a complete arms embargo against Israel on Monday, barring not only the sale of weapons, but also the transit of arms and fuel bound for Israel.
As Israel continues its genocidal campaign in Gaza and expands its aggression to other countries across the region, anger and resentment grows. The world is watching to see what global leaders will do about Israel’s utter disregard for international law or if they will do anything at all.
