Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Qatar and other nations harboring Hamas leaders on Tuesday evening, declaring that Israel will pursue the masterminds of the October 7 massacre wherever they are found.
His statement comes a day after an Israeli strike in Qatar targeted senior Hamas officials, a move drawing sharp international condemnation. “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists: you either expel them or you bring them to justice,” Netanyahu said. “Because if you don’t, we will.”
The prime minister invoked the memory of both the U.S. September 11 attacks and the October 7 Hamas massacre, framing Israel’s actions as part of the same global fight against Islamist terrorism.
“Tomorrow is September 11. We remember September 11. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery on American soil since the founding of the United States,” he said. “We also have a September 11. We remember October 7. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Netanyahu drew a direct parallel between Israel’s strike and America’s post-9/11 counterterrorism campaign. “What did America do in the wake of September 11? It promised to hunt down the terrorists who committed this heinous crime, wherever they may be.
“And it also passed a resolution in the Security Council of the UN, two weeks later, that said that governments cannot give harbor to terrorists,” he said. “Yesterday, we acted along those lines. We went after the terrorist masterminds who committed the October 7 massacre,” Netanyahu continued.
“And we did so in Qatar, which gives safe haven, harbors terrorists, finances Hamas and grants its terrorist chieftains sumptuous villas. It gives them everything. So we did exactly what America did when it went after the Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and when it killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.”
Addressing criticism from foreign governments, Netanyahu accused world leaders of hypocrisy for condemning Israel’s actions while applauding similar U.S. operations. “Now, the various countries of the world condemn Israel. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
“What did they do after America took out Osama bin Laden? Did they say, ‘Oh, what a terrible thing was done to Afghanistan or to Pakistan?’ No, they applauded. They should applaud Israel for standing up to the same principles and carrying them out.”
Netanyahu concluded his remarks with a renewed warning to nations harboring Hamas leaders: “You either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will.”
But Qatar hit back strongly on Wednesday. In an interview with CNN, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani accused Netanyahu of “trying to undermine any chance of stability, any chance of peace” by targeting Hamas leadership in Doha.
Al-Thani rejected accusations that Qatar harbors terrorists, saying its meetings with Hamas leaders are part of its role as a mediator in the Middle East conflict. “It’s very publicly known that we are meeting with Hamas leadership,” he told CNN’s Becky Anderson.
“Everything about the meeting is very well known to the Israelis and the Americans. It’s not something that we are hiding. There’s no justification that this is considered harboring terrorism.”
The Qatari prime minister also warned that Israel’s actions could endanger the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. “I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday — he just killed any hope for those hostages,” Al-Thani said.
Despite mounting criticism, Netanyahu signaled that Israel will continue its campaign against Hamas leaders abroad, insisting that countries must either expel them or face Israeli action.
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