GATESTONE
‘Qatar is Hamas, and Hamas is Qatar’
Khaled Abu Toameh
February 11, 2025

The Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinians on October 7 could have been released a long time ago had the Biden administration exerted pressure on Qatar to use its good relations with the Islamist group to force it to do so. All Qatar had to do was to summon the Hamas leaders in Doha and give them an ultimatum to release all the hostages immediately or face deportation from the Gulf state. It is hard to see how the Hamas leaders would have been able to say no to their major political and financial patrons and backers…. The Qataris were never under the slightest pressure. READ MORE