On Tuesday, ten Zionist occupation fighter jets left the occupied territories on a warpath to Doha. Their target was Hamas’ political leadership, which had convened to discuss the latest ceasefire proposal pushed by Washington.
The unprecedented strike on a “regional ally” of the US, which has been mediating the Gaza ceasefire talks, amply demonstrates that Israelis are willing to escalate to new levels to impose their regional hegemony, discarding the notion that a “neutral” or even US-aligned country will remain unscathed by the growing regional war.
An American-made operation
The Israeli warplanes’ presumed path to Doha crossed over multiple countries—Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia—and finally launched numerous strikes on the Hamas political office in the Qatari capital, close to the diplomatic enclave.
Though the aggression failed to take out senior Hamas leadership, it sent a message to the Arab world, particularly those who seek American economic and security guarantees as a process to pursue “peace”: They have forfeited their sovereignty in exchange for being a market for American corporations and interests.
Israel, an appendage of global imperialism, has already received the blank cheque to strike even “friendly” countries if it wants to. And furthermore, it will not be Israel alone that does it—the aggression will be in full collaboration with the United States.
To understand the level of collaboration, the buildup of events leading to the Doha bombing must be examined chronologically. For almost two years, ceasefire (surrender) proposals have been sent to Hamas leadership in Doha multiple times—since early on in the wake of Operation Al Aqsa Flood, to just less than two weeks ago.
Each time, Hamas leadership convened in Doha or elsewhere, examined the proposals, and acted accordingly.
Over the course of the last 23 months of the genocide in Gaza, Zionism and US imperialism have recorded the pattern of resistance leadership convening.
Without a doubt, resistance leaders are under heavy surveillance by the US, Israel, and other imperialist junior partners (such as the United Kingdom). Utilizing sophisticated technology and likely spies (or collaborators) on Qatari soil, they can pinpoint the location and timing of these meetings.
This is a precedent already set during the 12-day war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, where collaborators worked with Israeli intelligence to signal when and where Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members would convene after the launch of Israeli aggression—then directed the attack on IRGC headquarters, leading to the martyrdom of several top commanders.
The aggression against Iran came on the eve of the sixth round of Tehran-Washington indirect nuclear negotiations brokered by Oman. That’s how Americans use “negotiations” as a cover to push their imperial agenda in the region.
Washington particularly pushed the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, framing it as a final ultimatum to Hamas leadership. They wanted Hamas leadership to meet, only to assassinate them.
On the day of the attack, citizen journalists, using open-source data and intelligence, were able to track the trajectory of US and UK aircraft in Qatari airspace, as well as other aircraft—launched under the control and command of CENTCOM—that allowed for the Israeli aggression to commence.
It is undeniable: US and UK aircraft left Qatari airspace from their bases within Qatar, provided refueling to Zionist warplanes for them to hit their target in Doha, then returned to their occupation base in the occupied territories.
The aggression in Doha was allowed to happen with total collaboration from the US, planned days in advance, and brazenly assisted by US and UK agents from within Qatar. Furthermore, not a single air defense system engaged the Israeli warplanes.
The same air defenses that had activated to counter Iranian missiles headed for the Al Udeid Air Base were nowhere to be found. As a result, five people were reportedly martyred in the terrorist strike—four members of the Palestinian resistance movement’s staffers and one Qatari national.
In a statement, US President Donald Trump insisted that the US did not know about the strikes until the final moments, when they warned Qatar, but it was “too late.” In typical US doublespeak, Trump expressed regret over the strikes, shifting the blame from the US, while doubling down that the target was “worthy.”
It is clear that, based on the facts on the ground, the logistical structure of the attack, and the conditions that were created for the attack, Trump is lying and engaging in political damage control over a regional ally of the US that hosts thousands of soldiers.
Trump’s rhetoric is a known and understood reality. What the Israeli aggression on Qatar really demonstrates is that subordination to the imperialist world system does not protect you from the imperialist world system.
A fatal friendship
Qatar hosts the most significant US military base in West Asia—Al Udeid Air Base. Stationed there are thousands of troops, billions of dollars worth of military equipment, and staff that collaborate directly with the security apparatus of the Qatari state.
The base and the security agreement between the US and the Qatari state allow the US military to conduct surveillance flights, aggression, and logistical operations in the region. Most of these operations are aimed at targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the Ansarallah movement in Yemen.
The base’s logistical purpose is seen more practically in its assistance to the Israeli occupation—routinely delivering arms to bases within the occupied territories, as well as refueling Israeli aircraft mid-operation.
In exchange for this sophisticated American base on Qatari soil, Qatar receives “security guarantees”—access to purchase arms, training, and promises of security from American partners—just not from American allies like the Israeli occupation, seemingly.
Despite Qatar bulking up its stockpile of Western weaponry, the same Patriot systems that were activated to protect American interests in Qatar during the 12-day war were not activated to preserve Qatar’s own citizens.
Outside of the weapons systems themselves, Qatar had also participated in a joint military drill with the Zionist occupation just earlier this year—a drill designed to emulate refueling aircraft mid-journey—a tactic used by both the US and Israel in order to attack Iran.
Qatar’s submission to a massive US military presence and flirting with normalization in the form of war games with the occupation was not enough to save it from aggression on its own soil.
The Israeli aggression on Qatari soil is a brazen humiliation of the Persian Gulf Arab State—and a message to all countries within the region that Israel can and will operate with total impunity, even if you’re considered an allied country to imperialism.
Qatar, by American-imposed standards, did everything right. It gifted Donald Trump a $400 million plane to be used as Air Force One. It hosted thousands of troops and tons of US equipment, used to carry out aggression against fellow Muslim and Arab countries. It opened itself to US capitalists, becoming a new market for the American ruling class.
Despite this, it stands humiliated, cleaning out the debris of an airstrike crafted by the Americans that occupy its soil, as well as burying a fellow countryman.
Perhaps the worst part of all—not a single shot was fired from its sophisticated American arsenal to expel the Zionist aerial invaders.
Will the other Arab countries with similar security arrangements learn from this episode? It is hard to tell. Since the Israeli aggression will not be responded to with a dignified military response, one thing does become clear: the Arab regimes, armed to the teeth with American weaponry, are only allowed to have two targets: their own people if they revolt against them, or any common enemy shared by the US.
The Arab ruling classes—installed by colonialism, propped up by petro-dollars, and ruling through Western-backed weapons—play a primary role not as heads of an allegedly sovereign state, but as guarantors of American financial domination.
Their security guarantees are only for themselves, as long as they stay in line with preserving the rule of law, rather than the rule of the dollar.
It would take an anti-imperialist awakening—likely led by a grassroots movement—to change the ideological posture of Arab states that cozy up to Zionism-imperialism.
US war criminal Henry Kissinger comes to mind with his notable quote: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”
Musa Iqbal