Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani addresses the UN General Assembly, warning against Israel's actions in Gaza and beyond. Image credit: Arab News
(The Post News) – The Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, gave a vitriolic condemnation at the 80th United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, accusing Israel of dominating the region and calling on the world to stand against its activities in Gaza and elsewhere. He warned that if not, it would be “enabling the law of the jungle to reign.”.
Speaking to world leaders in New York, Sheikh Tamim blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attempting to make the Arab world “an Israeli sphere of influence.” He called Israel a “rogue state” and claimed that it uses war, occupation, and political assassinations to extend its influence.
“The Israeli prime minister’s fantasy is to turn the Arab world into an Israeli sphere of influence,” declared the emir. “If we allow breaches to happen, that is the equivalent of approving a world in which might makes right.”
Condemning Israel’s Strike in Doha
The emir’s statement came after weeks of an unprecedented Israeli bombardment of Doha on September 9. The bombing targeted senior Hamas leaders who had been at a residential complex to consider a Trump administration-mediated ceasefire offer.
The bombing killed six and shook Qatar’s capital, near schools and diplomatic enclaves. Sheikh Tamim termed the bombing as “treacherous” and “state terrorism,” crediting it with derailing diplomatic efforts against the Gaza war.
“Israel negotiates with delegations and has the same delegates assassinated,” he said. “It is difficult to negotiate with such a mentality.”
Tamim reaffirmed Qatar’s continuation of mediation with Egypt and America, stressing that “diplomacy should never be abandoned even when others opt for weapons.”
Tamim condemned Israel’s ongoing military onslaught against Gaza, in which it has killed more than 65,300 Palestinians, most of whom were children and women, since October 2023. Tamim attributed Israel for deliberately making Gaza dead by targeting residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, and vital infrastructure.
“They want to kill Gaza so that it does not exist,” Tamim stated. “Israel uses negotiations as a weapon of war and on the ground is committing genocide.”
He blamed the destruction in Gaza on Israel’s general expansionist plan, which includes West Bank takeover and attempts to alter the status quo of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. These steps, he said, present a vision of a “Greater Israel” which is incompatible with peace.
Israel’s Political Tactics
The emir also condemned Israel’s efforts to label critics as antisemites or terrorists. “This try-to-muzzle-us policy is one that even Israelis’ supporters increasingly reject,” he went on.
Tamim debunked Israel’s image as a besieged democracy. “In fact, Israel is an aggressor and a neighbourhood enemy who is perpetrating genocide,” he stated. Reducing it to a historic struggle, he continued: “The international solidarity movement of today is a replica of yesterday’s fight against apartheid.”.
Sheikh Tamim got recent European support for Palestinian statehood and called for other nations to follow suit. He again emphatically expressed that only the two-state solution can ensure peace.
“Peace in the Middle East requires the recognition of Palestine,” he said. “We must reinvigorate collective security as enshrined in the UN Charter, or descend into anarchy.”.
The Qatari president reminded us of other leaders who had been frustrated in conveying their emotions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that silence regarding Gaza equals acquiescence to “barbarity,” and Jordan’s King Abdullah II described the war as “one of the darkest moments in UN history.”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also called for action, calling on leaders to make a decision between “justice and silence.” His remarks came after a blistering Human Rights Council report accusing Israel of genocide that Washington and Tel Aviv dismissed.
Sheikh Tamim attributed Israel’s actions in Gaza and Doha to a wider crisis in international governance. “The United Nations was born on the principle of values created out of the atrocities of two global wars,” he said. “If we allow these abuses to carry on, it is a way of opening doors to the jungle law under which criminals are rewarded for their criminal activities simply because they can.”.
Despite ominous threats, the emir reasserted Qatar’s diplomatic function. “We will continue to broker between Egypt and the US,” he declared. “But the world must decide: do we uphold justice and international law, or the jungle?”
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