‘Great ally for US; have to do something about Hamas’: Trump walks diplomatic tightrope on Qatar

NEW JERSEY: US President Donald Trump underscored the importance of US- Qatar ties, calling the country a “great ally” of the United States and at the same time urged the country to “do something” about Hamas. He made the remarks on Sunday (US local time) while departing Bedminster, New Jersey, en route to White House.

On being asked by media about his message to Qatar’s Prime Minister, the US President said, “Look, we’re with them. They’ve been a great ally. A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally. They also lead a very difficult life because they’re right in the middle of everything. So they have to be a little bit politically correct in their terms. But I will tell you, they’ve been a great ally for the United States.”

He further added, “They (Qatar) have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas. But Qatar has been a great ally to the United States. A lot of people don’t know that. I told the Emir, who I think is a wonderful person. I said you need better public relations, because you don’t really get the public relations. I mean, people talk of it so badly, and they shouldn’t be. Qatar has been a very great ally, so Israel and everybody else, we have to be careful. When we attack people, we have to be careful.”

On Sunday, at the preperatory ministerial meeting for the emergency Arab-Islamic Summit on the Israeli attack, Qatari PM Jassim Al-Thani said, “Instead of appreciating Qatar’s efforts and safeguarding the progress made in the negotiations, Israel launched an airstrike on a residential compound housing members of the Hamas negotiating team. This demonstrates that what occurred was not merely a targeted attack, but an assault on the principle of mediation itself and on everything diplomacy represents as an alternative to war and destruction.”

He further stressed that Qatar would not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty or threat to its national security. “Qatari sovereignty is not a matter that can be disregarded or transgressed, and we will confront any threat with all means guaranteed by international law.”

The Qatari PM also expressed his appreciation for the solidarity shown by Arab and Islamic countries, as well as friendly countries in the international community, which condemned the attack and voiced their support for Qatar and the legal and legitimate measures it will take to preserve its sovereignty.

The slew of developments come on the heels of Israeli strikes into Doha.

Israel had launched missiles as Hamas members convened in their Doha office to discuss a deal proposed by US President Donald Trump to end Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

The airstrike killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security official, although it did not eliminate the Hamas leadership it targeted. The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the attack on Thursday. (ANI)