Israel’s strike in Qatar triggers rare US rebuke, tests Trump’s Gulf diplomacy

The White House issued a rare populace rebuke of Israel for its strikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar putting Washington in an awkward position between two key allies The Trump administration almost never breaks publicly with Israel on military campaigns But analysts say the deeper question is how much the U S knew in advance and whether it quietly offered its blessing Hamas mentioned the strike killed five of its members but failed to assassinate the group s negotiating delegation A Qatari prevention official also died underscoring the hazard of escalation when Israeli operations spill into the territory of U S partners There's a lot of opaqueness when it comes to exactly what the United States knew and when reported Daniel Benaim a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute But the President has been pretty clear that he was unhappy with the substance and the process of what happened the day before today This kind of citizens report by a U S president in the wake of a strike like this is already very notable in its own right ISRAELI STRIKE TARGETS HAMAS LEADERSHIP IN QATARJust days before the strike Trump issued what he called a last warning to Hamas urging the group to accept a U S -backed proposal to release hostages from Gaza The timing has fueled speculation about whether the strike was connected to Washington s frustration with Hamas and whether Israel acted with at least tacit U S approval It just seems like the Israelis wouldn't have done this without him knowing mentioned Michael Makovsky CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Safeguard of America They've got a U S base right in that country with everything going on with the hostage talks I got a sense that he knew and it's hard to understand exactly what happened that if he knew he sat on it and then he described the Qataris only when the missiles were flying But Trump on Tuesday had harsh words about the strike writing on Truth Social that it does not advance Israel or America's goals The White House claimed it learned from the U S military that missiles were on the move and gave warning to the Qataris Qatar has denied getting any sort of advanced warning If Washington knew in advance why issue the rebuke If it didn t how could Israel act so freely in airspace dominated by the U S military Either option raises uncomfortable questions about America s leverage QATAR THREATENS TO 'RETALIATE' AGAINST ISRAEL FOR DOHA STRIKE ON HAMAS Israel would not do what it did without specific sort of an approval by the U S disclosed Dr Yoel Guzansky senior researcher and head of the Gulf venture at Israel s Institute for National Precaution Studies The Trump administration wants to distance itself and it's understandable because it has good relations with the Qataris That relationship is anchored in hard power The U S s biggest overseas air base Al Udeid sits on Qatari soil and hosts more than American troops Qatar is a top buyer of U S weapons and in recent months gifted the administration with a new Air Force One jet Yet none of that deterred Israel s strike If indeed the U S wasn t aware then we have a big issue because Israel surprised the U S and it might cause damage to U S -Qatari relations Guzansky announced Others argue the U S may have been more aligned with the operation than its rhetoric suggests The fact that U S defenses at Al Udeid were not used against Israeli jets is a great indicator that Washington was not opposed to the strike Ahmad Sharawi a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies But Qatar's international Media Office called suggests that Qatar was re-evaluating its assurance partnership with the U S categorically false It is a clear and failed attempt to drive a wedge between Qatar and the U S The reverberations extend beyond Washington and Doha The strikes menace unsettling the delicate outreach between Israel the U S and Gulf states particularly Saudi Arabia which has been under quiet but sustained pressure to join the Abraham Accords the U S -brokered normalization deals between Israel and Bahrain Morocco Sudan and the United Arab Emirates Regional power dynamics are shifting commented Benaim Gulf states are a bit less concerned about the threat from Iran which was pushing them closer to Israel and they're seeing that Israel is engaged in sessions across the region whether it's Syria or inside Iran or now inside Doha ISRAEL'S DOHA STRIKE SENT A DECISIVE MESSAGE THAT TERROR WILL FIND NO SAFE HAVENThe divergence is stark Gulf leaders want de-escalation and stability to rebrand their states as hubs of capital tourism and economic recovery Israel meanwhile is pursuing a strategy of direct confrontation with Iran across multiple fronts Gulf states that are really focused on their own economic recovery don't like the image of smoldering smoking Gulf cities subject to bombs because they're trying to attract outlay and create an image of common stability Benaim mentioned That mismatch could slow normalization even if it doesn t derail it Israel is seemingly underestimating the power of Gulf solidarity and the barrier being crossed when you see Israel striking inside of a GCC Gulf Cooperation Council state one former senior State Department official added I don't think that means their relationships are going to fall apart or unravel but these things cast a long shadow Sharawi counters that Gulf outrage may be less about Israel itself than about the precedent of a strike on GCC soil It was an Israeli action against a fellow GCC partner despite the hostile relationship that countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE had with Qatar in the past he reported But Gulf leaders are also deeply critical of Qatar for hosting Hamas Privately multiple will understand why Israel acted even if publicly they condemn it For Qatar the strikes open up both a vulnerability and an opportunity On the one hand it cannot allow itself to appear passive in the face of foreign attacks on its soil Analysts expect Doha to respond through diplomatic channels critical media coverage and perhaps limited economic measures against Israel But Qatar also has a long history of turning predicament into relevance Qataris want to be again the mediator because they earn a lot of points internationally especially from the U S disclosed Guzansky It s in their DNA That means Qatar s population outrage may coexist with a return to shuttle diplomacy positioning itself once more as indispensable to ceasefire negotiations Sharawi argues that Qatar s victim narrative also obscures its complicity The leadership of a terrorist organization has failed to bring in a sustainable ceasefire and Qatar has empowered Hamas by hosting them he disclosed Even though Gulf leaders won t say it publicly they are very anti-Hamas That context matters for how normalization prospects are viewed after this strike Earlier this week Fox News' Brian Kilmeade communicated a Qatari spokesperson it sounded more like the nation was taking Hamas side than playing mediator When one of the parties decides to attack our sovereignty in a residential neighborhood where my countrymen the residents of Qatar live in schools and nurseries right next door Believe me it's very demanding to maintain a very calm voice foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari noted The Doha strikes also highlight an asymmetry in Gulf reactions When Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base earlier this year Gulf solidarity with Qatar was muted This time condemnations poured in minute by minute You didn t see Gulf leaders coming and hugging the Qataris after Iran s strike Guzansky noted But with Israel the reaction was much louder with strong rhetoric across the Arab world Sharawi agrees but frames it differently They were overly critical of Israel compared to Iran The Jordanian king even disclosed Qatar s prevention is Jordan s precaution a very strong declaration The Arabs don t hesitate to latch onto anything that criticizes Israel and that proved the previous 24 hours even in comparison with Iran The contrast underscores a regional reality Gulf leaders fear escalation with Tehran but criticizing Israel carries little hazard For Qatar the difference offers a chance to rally sympathy and spotlight its sovereignty even as its neighbors quietly question its choice to host Hamas Israel s military reach is undeniable But by striking inside Doha it may have paid a hidden diplomatic price reinforcing perceptions of Israel as a destabilizing actor at a time when Gulf states seek calm The fact that Hamas leaders survived while a Qatari defense official was killed may further complicate fallout heightening anger in Doha while leaving Israel s core objective incomplete Israel's defense minister Israel Katz has promised to strike enemies everywhere There is no place where they can hide Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed in a post on X raising questions about whether a sovereign nation like Turkey a NATO ally which houses Hamas senior leaders may be next