Qatar, an unnecessary evil

Qatar has positioned itself as a key player on the geopolitical chessboard in the Middle East, presenting itself as a bridge between the West and the region's most controversial players. However, the perception that this small emirate is a "necessary evil" for international diplomacy is extremely problematic.

Far from being a neutral mediator, Qatar plays a double-sided game: it cultivates relations with Western powers while funding and protecting groups that destabilize the region, manipulating conflicts and then presenting itself as their savior.

Like all manipulators, Qatar has a clear goal: to destabilize the West in the long term, undermining its values and democratic structures with a patient and calculated strategy. This ambition, combined with its track record, challenges the idea that relying on Doha is inevitable.

On the one hand, Qatar maintains strategic ties with the West. It hosts the U.S. military base at Al Udeid, one of the most important in the region, and has signed trade and defense agreements with countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France. This relationship gives it a facade of a reliable ally, a partner that offers stability in a volatile Middle East.

Qatar has even recently offered the U.S. government a luxury jet. President Trump denied that this was a personal gift, but a donation to the Department of Defense. In any case, this is an attempt to influence Washington.

Qatar's funding of terrorist groups

Qatar has been accused for years of funding terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Nusra Front, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist organization with influence in several Arab countries.

Moreover, its financial and logistical support to Hamas is no secret. Doha has not only offered and still offers refuge to leaders of that terrorist organization, but has also channeled millions of dollars to the group, supposedly for humanitarian aid in Gaza, but which in practice has strengthened its military capacity.

The case of Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli hostage recently freed after a series of negotiations which Qatar mediated, illustrates this hypocrisy perfectly. Doha has portrayed itself as a facilitator of his release and of peace. But this narrative ignores a crucial fact: Alexander's kidnapping by Hamas was made possible, in part, by Qatar's financial and political backing of the group. It is like an arsonist demanding gratitude for partially extinguishing the fire he started.

Qatar is not a disinterested mediator; it is an actor that contributes to creating the conflicts in which it then intervenes to gain influence and avoid being targeted by the West.

Qatar's strategy is clear: generate problems and then offer itself as the solution. Its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas has fueled instability in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Gaza, where these groups have unleashed violence and polarization.

Qatari funding at American universities

Beyond the Middle East, Qatar has been singled out for funding pro-Hamas protests and an anti-Israeli narrative at universities in the United States.

These antisemitic demonstrations, in which Jewish students have even been harassed and assaulted, have received financial and logistical backing from Doha-linked networks disguised as grants, with the aim of amplifying anti-Israeli and anti-Western narratives.

This covert funding is part of a broader strategy to destabilize the West, not through direct confrontation, but through a slow and deliberate erosion of its institutions and values. Qatar is taking its time, operating patiently to maximize its influence while minimizing retaliation.

An unnecessary evil

This manipulative game allows it to remain at the center of the geopolitical stage, evading consequences for its role in funding terrorism. The international community, especially the West, falls into this trap by treating Qatar as a necessary evil, an "imperfect" but useful ally in a chaotic region.

The reality is that relying on Qatar perpetuates a cycle of violence and instability. Doha's funding of groups like Hamas and movements that foment terrorism and seek to destabilize not only prolonged conflicts, but cause suffering and death to thousands of people.

Instead of accepting Qatar as a necessary evil, the international community should press for accountability for its double-sided dealing. This would involve stronger sanctions, rigorous scrutiny of its financial flows and a reassessment of its role as a mediator.

Qatar should not be rewarded for half-heartedly putting out the fires it helps ignite. Its strategy of manipulation, masquerading as diplomacy, is not only immoral, it undermines any chance of lasting peace in the Middle East and threatens the stability of the West. It is time to stop seeing Doha as a necessary evil and start treating it for what it is: an actor that thrives on the chaos it fosters, with the ultimate goal of weakening the free world from the shadows.

The West must pressure Qatar to join the Abraham Accords to normalize its relations with Israel and end its funding and support for terrorism or face the harsh consequences facing Iran today.

Currently, Qatar is not only an unnecessary evil, it is an absolutely destructive one.