Qatar is no honest broker in Israel-Hamas war

Washington’s use of its veto for the third time to forestall the UN Security Council from passing a Gaza ceasefire resolution is an important reminder of the blind foolishness of those who seriously expect Israel to stop fighting while Hamas is still holding 130 hostages. Even Qatar, supposed to be the key mediator in the crisis, appears to be infected by the “ceasefire-at-any-price” unreality of much of the world. That includes the 13 Security Council members – among them sensible nations such as Japan, South Korea, Slovenia and Switzerland – that voted for the latest resolution. At last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani argued that since the October 7 slaughter of Jews the so-called “hostage issue” has been “misused by a lot of countries – that in order to get a ceasefire, it’s conditional to have the hostage deal. (A ceasefire) shouldn’t be conditioned”, he said.

He could not have been more misguided. Mr Al-Thani’s insistence that a ceasefire should not be conditional on the release of the hostages makes as little sense as his government’s outrageous statement on October 7 when, as horrifying details of the atrocities being committed by the terrorists were emerging, it averred in an official statement that “Israel alone is responsible” for Hamas’s atrocities. Really? That is hardly what should reasonably be expected from the key so-called “honest broker” in the crisis. Mr Al-Thani’s insistence in Munich that a ceasefire should not be conditional on the hostages’ release plays into the hands of the terrorists and those who support them.

Concern about what may happen to the Palestinian civilians who have fled to Rafah and may be caught in the crossfire is understandable. There is an absolute need for Israel to minimise civilian casualties, but equally an overwhelming need to be clear-eyed about the way Hamas has lured Palestinians to crowd into Rafah and stay so they can willy-nilly serve as human shields to protect the Hamas commanders and foot soldiers hiding among and underneath them, allowing them to regroup and rearm. The dangers of concluding an unconditional ceasefire that does not free all hostages and allows Hamas to maintain its hold on places such as Rafah and its use of Palestinians as human shields are clear. Doing so is what Hamas’s evil business model is all about. It would enable the terrorists to prolong the war, resulting in even greater human suffering. The Qatari Prime Minister should understand that.