The Israeli airstrike on Qatar’s capital Doha last Tuesday stands as yet another display of the turmoil that has plagued this region since the creation of the Zionist entity.
At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump floated a proposal to end Israel’s war on Gaza. Israel responded with contradictory signals — feigned acceptance and rejection — aimed at stalling for time. Hamas officials, travelling from Turkey to Doha, were scheduled to discuss the proposal with their leadership based in the Qatari capital, which has been playing a key mediating role to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Trump escalated the pressure on Hamas, warning: “Events are reaching their peak. The Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to do the same. This is my final warning — there will be no other.”
Yet, no one truly knows how or when Israel supposedly accepted Trump’s proposal, especially as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist on an exterminatory solution in Gaza — toppling towers, encircling the city with massive firepower, and openly rejecting compromise.
An Assassination Attempt Disguised as Negotiation
The surreal scene unfolded in a crowded Doha neighbourhood, where a villa slated to host Hamas leaders was flattened by Israeli missiles. The targeted officials were expected to discuss Trump’s proposal — the very one Israel claimed to have accepted. Even more striking: the strike targeted the capital of the mediator nation itself, in a precedent-setting act of aggression against negotiators and facilitators.
The White House later claimed Washington had notified Doha of the attack beforehand, but Qatar firmly denied receiving any warning. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson clarified: “The only call we received from a U.S. official came while the explosions were already echoing from the Israeli strike.”
This raises troubling questions: Did Washington know of the attack and remain silent? Was its claim of notification simply an after-the-fact attempt to distance itself once the strike failed? Trump later insisted: “This attack will not be repeated.”
Israel maintained that it targeted top Hamas leaders. Hamas confirmed its officials survived. Netanyahu then declared Israel would end the war if Hamas accepted Trump’s proposal — an absurd contradiction, given that he had just attempted to assassinate the very delegation meant to negotiate it.
CNN later reported Israeli sources admitting that planning for the Doha operation had begun months earlier, underscoring how Netanyahu uses “negotiations” merely as a smokescreen for escalation.
Signals of a Larger Agenda
Israel’s botched assassination attempt exposed confusion and frustration at the highest levels of its leadership. Whether through Hamas’ mistrust of Israeli intentions, Qatari precautions, or leaked intelligence, the fact remains: the targeted delegation survived, leaving Israel humiliated.
This act also shattered the basic tenets of diplomacy and international law. By bombing a sovereign state hosting negotiations, Israel not only endangered mediation efforts but also violated the sovereignty of a neutral nation — a reckless escalation beyond its typical covert operations.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana made Israel’s true intentions clear when he posted a video of the Doha strike with the comment: “This is a message to the entire Middle East.” It was the same “message” carried by Israeli bombs in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. The underlying aim: intimidation of any country hosting Palestinian resistance leaders.
At the core, Netanyahu’s ambition remains the same: to sabotage negotiations and push ahead with his plan to occupy Gaza and displace its population — a project openly presented in defiance of international resolutions.
Netanyahu’s Ideology: “Greater Israel”
These actions reflect Netanyahu’s long-declared vision of “Greater Israel” as outlined in his book “A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World.” There he argued that the “Jewish homeland” must extend beyond the 1967 borders, insisting that Israel cannot relinquish control over the Golan Heights or the West Bank. In his worldview, “Eretz Yisrael” is not confined to Palestine but expands to encompass the entire region as a “geo-political homeland.”
In this framing, Netanyahu portrays himself on a “historic and spiritual mission” to realise “Greater Israel,” a mission that now guides the occupation’s military and political behaviour — justified by biblical ideology and zealotry endorsed by Israel’s religious-nationalist establishment.
Heavy Diplomatic Costs
But has Israel achieved its goal from the Doha attack? The reality points otherwise. The attempt failed militarily, while the diplomatic costs have been severe.
- International condemnation was swift, denouncing Israel’s violation of Qatari sovereignty.
- The International Criminal Court continues its proceedings against Netanyahu for war crimes.
- The International Court of Justice is hearing cases accusing Israel of genocide.
- Several European states have restricted entry for Israeli officials, and global public outrage against the massacres in Gaza continues to mount.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU is preparing sanctions on Netanyahu’s ministers, suspending bilateral cooperation, and launching a new donor fund for Palestine.
American Jewish writer Thomas Friedman warned that Israel is rapidly becoming a pariah state, where Israelis abroad may hesitate to even speak Hebrew in public. He cautioned that global Jewry itself could suffer backlash if it does not resist the reckless extremism of Netanyahu’s government, which has turned Gaza into both “the world’s largest open-air prison” and now “the largest children’s graveyard,” in the words of UN officials.
