In an unprecedented move, the Arab League, which represents 22 Arab countries, on July 30, called on the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas to lay down its weapons and relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas rejected the call. How did the Arab countries respond to Hamas's rejecting their request? Instead of calling out Hamas for causing death and destruction in the Gaza Strip, they condemned Israel.
Earlier this year, a senior Arab League official, Hossam Zaki, was quoted as saying that it would be in the interests of the Palestinian people if Hamas ceded control of the Gaza Strip. As usual, Hamas rejected the call. Since then -- and before -- the Arab League has repeatedly denounced Israel for fighting against the terror group responsible for the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, the worst crime against Jews since the 1940s.
At least 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, thousands wounded, and 251 dragged as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Hamas is still holding 48 hostages; only 28 of whom are thought to be alive.
The Arab League did not hold an emergency session to discuss Hamas's disrespectful response to its Arab brothers. By rejecting the call to disarm and relinquish control over the Gaza Strip, Hamas demonstrated that it has zero respect for the Arab and Muslim countries, which include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and even Qatar.
Hamas has no reason to do the bidding of the Arab and Muslim countries. Hamas is not even slightly afraid of them. They spend most of their time condemning Israel and exert no pressure on the terror group to end the war, release the hostages, lay down its weapons, or relinquish control over the Gaza Strip. Arab countries such as Qatar, in fact, still host most of the Hamas leadership, many of whom are billionaires who continue to orchestrate the devastation of Gaza from luxurious five-star hotels and villas in Doha. It was Qatar, in fact, during the entire Trump administration's supposed "mediation," that repeatedly instructed Hamas to keep attacking Israel and not to disarm (such as here, here and here).
Even after joining the Arab League's request for a ceasefire, Qatari government journalists are urging Hamas to kidnap more Israeli soldiers, to "[f]ight the Jews and kill them," and that "Jihad victory in Gaza will end Zionism." After the January 2025 ceasefire came into effect, Qatar's government media called the ceasefire a "crushing historic victory" for Hamas, a "significant defeat" for Israel, and like the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, "which the Prophet Muhammad signed with his enemies in the Quraysh tribe" for ten years, but "which he violated after approximately two years," and proceeded to conquer Mecca.
Iran funds Hamas with an estimated $100 million a year.
The Arab heads of state, who are not coming out in public against Hamas, are apparently afraid that if they did, they would face a backlash from the Arab street, where Hamas and other Islamist groups remain as popular as ever. Some Arab leaders are already being dubbed traitors by Arabs because of their close relations with Israel and the US.
It is, unfortunately, safe to assume that most Arab leaders do not particularly care about the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially those living in the Gaza Strip. For the past few decades, most Arab countries have merely limited their support to the Palestinians to lip service and slogans.
In early August, the Arab League held an emergency session in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss Israeli plans to seize control of Gaza City as part of an effort to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and end its rule over the entire Gaza Strip. The Arab leaders, ignoring Hamas's rejection of their call to disarm and step down from power, instead branded Israel's plans "a blatant act of aggression" and demanded urgent international pressure to halt Israel's military activities against the terror group. One would expect the Arab leaders to be furious with Hamas for turning down their request. One would be wrong.
If 22 Arab and Muslim countries do not have the courage to speak out against Hamas, how can they be expected to play any role in ending the war in the Gaza Strip? Egypt and Qatar are the only two countries directly negotiating with Hamas for a potential ceasefire-hostage agreement with Israel. The other Arab countries have chosen not to get involved.
Hamas leaders regularly visit Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on the situation in the Gaza Strip. The Egyptians, however, do not seem to be putting any real pressure on Hamas. Similarly, Qatar, has so far failed to pressure the terror group to lay down its weapons and relinquish control over the Gaza Strip. Qatar's government journalists, as noted, are still actively encouraging Hamas to continue the war.
Like the rest of the Arab countries, Egypt and Qatar do not appear especially put out by Hamas's refusal to heed the call of the Arab League. If the two countries really wanted to pressure Hamas, they would at least threaten to deport the terror group's leaders and their families and seize their bank accounts. Not only has this not happened, but Hamas leaders continue to lead comfortable lives in Doha and are warmly received each time they fly to Egypt.
Hamas leaders simply feel no pressure whatsoever from the Arabs to end the war in the Gaza Strip. That is most likely why Hamas leaders are determined to fight to the last Palestinian. From their safe homes and offices in Qatar and Turkey, Hamas leaders continue to glorify the Palestinian "resistance" and threaten Israel with more terrorism.
The fastest way to end the war is by demanding -- with consequences for dawdling -- that the Arab countries, especially Egypt and Qatar, take a truly tough stance against Hamas. The Trump administration is probably the only party that can pressure Egypt and Qatar to force Hamas to release the hostages and lay down its weapons. Arab leaders, after all, have never exactly been known to be sympathetic toward anyone who dares to challenge or offend them.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
tiki