Qatar prepares new diplomatic avalanche against Israel after strike against Hamas, expert tells ALL ISRAEL NEWS

In an unprecedented strike, Israel tried to eliminate most of Hamas’s senior leadership as it convened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Sept. 9.

While the results were still unclear at the time of publication, the impact of Israel’s momentous decision to attack the capital of a U.S. major non-NATO ally will be felt across the Middle East for months to come.

With the region embroiled in several active conflicts and Israel fighting on seven fronts over the past two years, many worry that Qatar’s declaration that it would “respond” against Israel means that another escalation is on the way.

Not so, says Dr. Ariel Admoni, a Qatar policy researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), who has emerged as one of Israel’s foremost experts on the shadowy Gulf emirate.

“They have a military that relies on foreign workers, so it isn’t a military threat,” he told ALL ISRAEL NEWS..

One of the reasons fueling Qatar’s outraged response, in addition to reports that an official questioned the alliance with the United States in a phone call with special envoy Steve Witkoff, is that Qatar has consciously outsourced its security to Washington.

With the region’s largest U.S. base only a stone’s throw south of Doha, who would dare attack it?

However, this is now the second attack on Qatar in recent months, after Iran lobbed several missiles at the air base in a move to blow off steam that was likely coordinated with Qatar beforehand.

The emirate, which only has some 300,000 full citizens, has relied on protection from the U.S., only maintaining a small army that is heavily dependent on foreign mercenaries and immigrants.

So how could Qatar try to harm Israel and retaliate for the attack and the resulting humiliation?

“I estimate they’ll try to activate all kinds of think tanks and other pressure to try and build a judicial case against Israel, in judicial and diplomatic channels,” explained Admoni.

“For example, all the international condemnations – try to translate them into a kind of diplomatic move against Israel, which presents Qatar as a peace-seeking country that doesn’t choose escalation but, on the other side, will attack Israel in response.”

Qatar has already taken measures to implement this goal. “The Qataris are swift: In the last hour, a meeting of the team responsible for formulating the legal move following the Israeli attack in Doha, led by Minister Mohammed Al-Khalifi, has already taken place... Qatar is aiming for a legal-diplomatic move against Israel,” Admoni wrote on 𝕏 on Wednesday.

In addition, Qatar requested to postpone a UN Security Council meeting so the Qatari prime minister could attend and address the session.

Currently, Qatar's leaders are busy broadcasting their condemnations of Israel’s actions across every media and diplomatic channel, while almost every relevant nation on the world stage has already criticized Israel in the past days.

Speaking with CNN on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani reiterated his threats that Qatar would respond, and said the nation was currently still discussing with regional partners.

He also revealed plans for a summit in Doha to continue these discussions, which could become another venue for condemnations and incitement against Israel.

Al Thani noted once again that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court: “He needs to be brought to justice.”

Meanwhile, the country also sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, describing the Israeli strike as “a blatant violation of all international laws and norms,” and stressing that it would “not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior.”

Qatar also “requested that the message be circulated to the members of the Security Council and issued as an official document of the Council,” the letter stated.

“Qatar’s policy has seemingly proven itself at this stage,” Admoni concluded while speaking with the Israeli newspaper Globes.

In addition to the usual suspects in the Arab world and the West, even friendly nations have publicly blasted Israel for its strikes in Qatar, including the U.S., Germany, India, and Japan.

“There are indeed condemnations of Israel in Europe, and I assume that Qatar has asked some countries to publish them,” Admoni noted.

However, the main retaliatory move is still to come – most likely, through some kind of larger judicial move against Israel.

Admoni told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that Qatar would continue to try and present itself as the world’s foremost mediating power, even suggesting that the hostage negotiations with Hamas aren’t necessarily over, despite the attack.

“We have to remember that Qatar continues to mediate. It’s being mentioned as one of the mediators in the Tsurkov story; the Qatari PM held closed discussions on this last week. In fact, there are, in parallel, working groups for mediation in the Kongo, in Ukraine, and even with the Israeli story – it will, in a certain way, maybe even benefit the dynamics,” he said.

Admoni explained: “Until now, Qatar hadn’t really had to placate Israel. Now, a hostage deal will enable it to please both Israel and the Americans, where they are now really concerned that these two countries could turn on them, despite the nice words from Trump.”

Despite the Israeli strike, which was also calculated to show Qatar there is a price to pay for harboring Hamas leaders, the emirate reportedly plans to continue cooperating closely with the terror group.

“If anyone thinks Qatar will stop: The Qatari charity signed a strategic memorandum of understanding for cooperation worth $15 million with the UK-based global Islamic relief organization. Israel accused the British organization about a decade ago of transferring funds to Hamas (and accusations of funding terrorism have also been made against the Qatari fund),” Admoni wrote on 𝕏.

At the time of publication, the results of the strike remained unknown, largely due to Qatari cooperation with Hamas in concealing details of the operation.

Another indication highlighting the close ties between the terror group was the death of a Qatari security officer during the explosions, suggesting the emirate was protecting the group’s leaders.

אמיר קטר בהלווית חמשת אנשי חמאס ואיש הביטחון הקטרי שנהרגו בתקיפה בדוחה pic.twitter.com/g1wCdurMo1

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) September 11, 2025

On Thursday, the Qatari Interior Ministry conducted a prayer ceremony “for the martyrs” who were killed in the attack. During the event, four caskets were displayed; one belonging to the guard and draped with the Qatari flag, and three with the Palestinian flag.

At least three Hamas officials – Usama Hamdan, Izzat al-Rishq and Husam Badran – attended the ceremony alongside senior Qatari officials.

Israel’s main targets in the strike, Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, did not appear, but the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Al Thani, personally attended the mourning prayers.

With the tiny but powerful Gulf emirate bent on revenge, it seems that Israel’s diplomatic and public relations crisis appears likely to continue for the foreseeable future.