This is a very complex and sensitive issue. Qatar has very close relationships with Iran and is the chief funder of Hamas, as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad. And yet, the United States maintains the Al Udeid Air Base, just west of Doha, NASA maintains relations with Doha, and Boeing has recently signed a 20 billion dollar deal with Qatar Airways, one of the largest in their history. On January 31, 2022, President Biden called “Qatar a good friend and a reliable partner and ally”, and also was designated by the President as a “major, non-NATO ally.”

Why does everyone in the West continue to treat Doha with kid gloves?

Here to examine this is Hillel Frisch.

About Hillel Frisch:

Hillel Frisch is a professor emeritus in the Departments of Political Studies and Middle East Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and a senior research associate at Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security. Fluent in Arabic, he is the author of several books and numerous articles on Middle East and Palestinian politics. Amongst his latest studies are “Rethinking the “Arab Spring”: Winners and Losers,” Middle East Quarterly (2021), “The Palestinian Military, Two Not One,” Oxford Handbook on Military and Security Studies (2021) “Jordan and Hamas,” Handbook on Jordan (2019) and “Assessing Iranian Soft Power in the Arab World from Google Trends,” The Journal for Interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies (2019). He has frequently published in the Jerusalem Post, and many of his articles have been disseminated in other venues such as The Daily Alert.