As the US and other Western countries continue to rely on Qatar to broker a ceasefire-hostage deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip, senior Qatari journalists affiliated with the Qatar's state-run media continue to praise the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, and are even calling for Hamas to kidnap more Israelis.
Qatar, which has long been supporting Hamas and currently hosts its leaders in Doha, already uses its Al-Jazeera television empire as a mouthpiece for Hamas and other Islamist terror groups. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Al-Jazeera -- in Arabic -- has been providing a platform to Hamas leaders to praise the massacre of Israelis.
On October 7, 2023, several Hamas leaders based in Qatar appeared in a video watching the coverage of the massacre. The Hamas leaders performed the "Prostration of Gratitude."
Al-Jazeera, in addition, has become the official mouthpiece of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Qassam. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Al-Jazeera has been broadcasting "exclusive" footage of Hamas attacks on Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. Al-Jazeera is, unsurprisingly, the only station Hamas trusts.
On August 26, for instance, Al-Jazeera posted a video clip on X, which it described as:
"Footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows an aspect of the complex ambush carried out by the Qassam Brigades, and it stated that it was to target an occupation force... which resulted in 5 soldiers killed and about 20 wounded, in the agricultural area of Beit Hanoun north of the Gaza Strip."
Al-Jazeera has been broadcasting similar videos from Hamas since the beginning of the war. It is the only media outlet that regularly "obtains" exclusive footage from the terror group.
Similarly, the Qatari newspaper al-Sharq, is owned by, and serves as a mouthpiece for, the Emirate. The editor-in-chief of al-Sharq, Jaber al-Harmi, is evidently a huge fan of Hamas. While the Qatari government claims to the Trump Administration that it is working to release the 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip, al-Harmi, closely associated with Qatar's leadership, is calling for kidnapping more Israelis – whom, by the way, he described as "rats."
Commenting on a failed attempt by Hamas to abduct Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, al-Harmi posted on X:
"If success is not achieved this time in capturing Zionist soldiers at the hands of the heroes of Hamas Brigades, then the second, third, and fourth attempts will succeed, God willing, by adding new rats to the tally held by the heroes of the [Hamas] Brigades.
In today's attempt, the heroes of Al-Qassam [the military wing of Hamas], during a qualitative operation storming a new established [Israeli] military site in Rafah, sent a number of Zionist soldiers to hell, a wretched fate, while others were sent to worldly torment with permanent disabilities and impairments, and others to mental and psychological institutions."Blessed be the hands of the heroes.
And may the hands of the vile criminal outcasts be paralyzed."
In another social media post, al-Harmi shared a video by Al-Jazeera which explained that Israel is destined to disappear:
"I swear, the Zionist entity will inevitably disappear. No matter how much the entity is revived with diplomatic cover, political support and military supplies, this entity has a limited lifespan. Its end is near, very near."
On July 14, 2025, al-Harmi wrote:
"Every inch of Gaza has turned into ambushes hunting down the occupation soldiers. There is no place in Gaza safe for the Zionists.. Leaving Gaza is not like entering it.. Even if you fortify yourselves with tanks, hide behind armored vehicles, and are heavily armed with weapons.. you will never be far from Yassin rockets, Qassam snipers, Qassam Brigades' explosives, and the resistance factions.."
Earlier this year, the Qatari editor-in-chief also scoffed at Israelis running to shelters to hide from rockets: "Settlers flee like rats to the shelters upon the arrival of blessed Qassam rockets."
On April 21, 2025, he wrote:
"Al-Qassam...to the Zionists:
"We broke your sword on a day of glory. The pledge of God was repeated by the martyr...
"I will harvest your heads on the Day of Judgement."
During the same month, al-Harmi evoked a Hadith (sayings or narrations of Prophet Mohammed) in which he wished for the death of the Jews:
"We are certain that the Hour of Judgement will not come until we fight the Jews and kill them. We feel no despair or hopelessness, despite all the pain, wounds, and bloodshed."
Al-Harmi was referring to the following Hadith, which is also quoted in Hamas's 1988 charter:
"The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: O Moslems, O Abdulla [slave of Allah ] , there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews."
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):
"Al-Harmi's views on Israel and the Jews are aligned with the extremist ideology of Hamas and reflect his unreserved support for this movement and for its terror against Israelis – support which is also expressed by the Qatari state. Just one day after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 251 were abducted to Gaza, Al-Harmi praised the operation, echoing the sentiment of other Qatari media figures. Since then, he has frequently reiterated his praise for the attack and for Hamas and its leaders...
"In an October 8, 2023 article in Al-Sharq, Al-Harmi described the attack as a 'heroic operation' that has changed the rules of the game and ushered in 'a new phase in the military confrontation' ahead of 'the complete liberation of Palestinian soil.'"
MEMRI points out that other statements by al-Harmi contained additional motifs of Arab antisemitism: such as descriptions of the Jews as prophet-killers and covenant-breakers.
In a post from April 2, 2025, Al-Harmi wrote:
"Everything the Zionist Jews are doing in Palestine, in Gaza and in the West Bank is conceivable, for they are prophet-killers. Moreover, they killed the prophets in the most criminal ways, as in the case of Allah's prophet Zacharia, whom they cut with a saw. So what do you expect of them?!"
In a November 6, 2023 post, he wrote:
"The Children of Israel killed or lied to every prophet or messenger [Allah] sent to them. If that is how [they behaved] towards Allah, how can it be different with human beings?! They carry out barbaric crimes, they have occupied holy places and usurped land, and they do not honor agreements. Yet the Arabs... do not learn from history."
If Qatar really wanted to end the war in the Gaza Strip, its representatives and propagandists would not be calling on Hamas to kidnap more Israelis.
If Qatar really wanted to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, it could do so by threatening to arrest or deport the Hamas leaders living in Doha or by seizing their financial assets.
Qatar, however, does not seem to be interested in any deal that ends the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in strengthening the terror group and helping it tighten its grip on the two million Palestinians living there. It is time for world leaders to listen to what the Qataris are saying in Arabic, not to what they hear from them in closed-door meetings in English.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
