New Jersey [US], September 15 (ANI): US President Donald Trump highlighted the strength of US-Qatar relations on Sunday, calling the Gulf nation a “great ally” while urging it to “do something” about Hamas. He made the remarks while departing Bedminster, New Jersey, en route to the White House.
Asked by reporters about his message to Qatar’s Prime Minister, Trump said, “Look, we’re with them. They’ve been a great ally. A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally. They also lead a very difficult life because they’re right in the middle of everything. So they have to be a little bit politically correct in their terms. But I will tell you, they’ve been a great ally for the United States.”
He added, “They (Qatar) have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas. But Qatar has been a great ally to the United States. A lot of people don’t know that. I told the Emir, who I think is a wonderful person, you need better public relations because you don’t really get the public relations. I mean, people talk of it so badly, and they shouldn’t. Qatar has been a very great ally, so Israel and everybody else, we have to be careful. When we attack people, we have to be careful.”
At a preparatory ministerial meeting for the Arab-Islamic Emergency Summit on Israel’s strike in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Jassim Al-Thani criticized the attack on a residential compound housing members of the Hamas negotiating team. “Instead of appreciating Qatar’s efforts and safeguarding the progress made in the negotiations, Israel launched an airstrike on a residential compound housing members of the Hamas negotiating team,” he said. “This demonstrates that what occurred was not merely a targeted attack but an assault on the principle of mediation itself and on everything diplomacy represents as an alternative to war and destruction.”
He stressed that Qatar would not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty or threat to its national security. “Qatari sovereignty is not a matter that can be disregarded or transgressed, and we will confront any threat with all means guaranteed by international law,” Al-Thani said. He also expressed appreciation for the solidarity shown by Arab and Islamic nations, as well as friendly countries, which condemned the attack and voiced support for Qatar’s legal measures to preserve its sovereignty.
The developments followed Israeli missile strikes in Doha. According to Al Jazeera, Israel targeted a meeting of Hamas officials discussing a proposal from Trump to end Israel’s two-year war in Gaza. The attack killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer but did not eliminate the Hamas leadership it aimed to strike. The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the incident on Thursday. (ANI)
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