For years since 2012, Qatar has been the safe haven for Hamas after its political office relocated from Syria. Thanks to an arrangement tacitly endorsed by Washington to keep backchannels open with a terror group that Washington can’t speak to openly, Hamas senior leaders have enjoyed what was described as “Hamas privilege” in Doha, “living in luxury abroad” while “orchestrating terror” from their Qatari safe haven.
And for decades, Israel has tried to hold its conduct to Western standards. Arguably, it is the only “Western nation” in the Middle East. Diplomatically, the Jewish state has looked to the West as a model for democracy and military, operating within the constraints of Western diplomatic norms. These include measured responses, careful escalation ladders, and endless rounds of negotiations with terrorists.
But everything changed on Tuesday (September 9). Israel, sick and tired of Hamas’ games of dragging its feet in endless negotiations, took matters into its own hands. As stunning as the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (who had resided luxuriously in Doha since 2016 until his death in 2024) on Iranian’s soil, Israel pulled yet another surprise when it expanded its new target to Qatar – shocking both friends and foes.
A terror attack a day earlier (Monday, September 8) in Jerusalem, which left six people dead and the death of four IDF soldiers in Gaza, provided Israel with an even bigger opening to flex its military muscle in revenge. Hamas, who still hadn’t learned its lesson, praised and took responsibility for the attack. In response, Netanyahu gladly justified the Qatar attack to the Hamas’ terrorism.
It was already bad that Qatar, the Gulf state that established unofficial trade relations with the State of Israel in 1996, was unexpectedly attacked by the Jewish state. It became worse when Israel boldly breached the sovereignty of Qatar, officially designated by the U.S. as a major non-NATO ally. But there’s something even more embarrassing to Doha.
Exactly how Qatar, a close U.S. ally equipped with some of Washington’s most advanced air defenses, failed to stop an Israeli strike on its territory without triggering any warning?It hasboth Patriot missile batteries and the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system, the same advanced interceptor deployed in Israel. Yet Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Tuesday that “Israel used a weapon that was not detected on radar.”
In the same Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the green light for an audacious attack on Qatari soil, targeting a residence used by Hamas figures in the dusty northern suburbs of Doha – the same place where the Hamas’ leaders celebrated the October 7 massacre that left 1,200 Israelis dead and some 250 hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.
In the “precise strike”, 15 Israeli jet fighters fired 10 long-range “precise missiles” at the house from outside Qatari airspace, causing explosions and panic across the capital. The goal was to kill as many Hamas leaders as possible when they gathered for a meeting. Hamas’ senior leaders – long hiding in host countries across the Middle East – flew this past weekend to the terror group’s headquarters in the Qatari capital of Doha.
As the jets moved in to strike, Israel’s military told their American counterparts that an attack on Hamas targets was coming minutes before missiles were launched, but didn’t disclose an exact location. Trump would be embarrassed if kept in the dark, largely due to the proximity of the huge U.S. airbase at al-Udeid, just outside Doha.
The U.S. military officials saw the missiles launch and inferred the target. Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, learned of the strike en route to Cairo and spoke with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The White House said the military notified Trump, who ordered his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to inform Qatar, who then alerted Hamas leaders.
Of course, it was too late to stop the airstrike. To save Trump from diplomatic trouble with Qatar and Arab Gulf allies, Netanyahu took full responsibility, saying “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.” It was yet another good-cop-bad-cop drama to divert all the blame on Israel. The best part is Israel says it’s ready for a complete deal to end the war even after attacking Doha.
Trump said – “I view Qatar as a strongally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack. Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals. However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.”
While the Hamas’ senior leaders were preparing to discuss – and enjoy a holiday – a new U.S. cease-fire plan for Gaza, apparently with Israeli backing, Netanyahu government saw it as an opportunity to neutralize more Hamas leaders since Israel already expected Hamas to drag its feet again. This time, Israel went after Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas politician and the terror group’s exiled Gaza leader.
From the beginning of the Israel-Hamas in Gaza, Khalil had been the chief Hamas negotiator, sending and receiving messages to the Israelis and Americans via Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries. But he rose in importance after the killings of top Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, and military commander Mohammed Deif last year.
With the staggering deaths of those Hamas leaders, Khalil al-Hayya is now one of five leaders steering Hamas’s leadership council. Even though the leadership council is temporary, Israel wanted to eliminate every one of them. Also on the target list was former head Khaled Mashaal and Zaher Jabarin, the finance chief who runs the group’s international relations and help raise funds but doesn’t join in fighting like the Hamas military wing in Gaza.
Unlike in previous attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, where Israel had tried incredibly hard to maintain deniability, this time it proudly claimed responsibility for the airstrike right away in a public announcement by the military – another sign that the old rules were changing. In fact, Israel’s swift admission suggests that the latest American proposals could be a ruse from the beginning to get the Hamas leadership in one place where they could be targeted.
According to Hamas, the leadership survived the strike and managed to escape seconds before the strike after being warned – obviously by the Qatari authorities. But the terrorist group also admits that the dead included Khalil al-Hayya’s chief of staff Abu Bilal, Khalil’s son Hamam, three escorts and a Qatari police officer. Hamas quickly celebrated the “total failure” of the Israeli operation.
It was a sharp escalation of Israel’s tactics against the U.S.-designated terrorist group, targeting its leaders in a sovereign country that mediates Gaza peace talks and hosts the most important U.S. air base in the region. By targeting Doha, a seaside city where gleaming skyscrapers and artificial islands sit next to traditional Arab markets, Israel has sent a new message.
Even if the strike didn’t kill the intended targets, it still sent a clear message – “there is no more safe haven for Hamas”. When it comes to its security, Israel will show very little concern for red lines or diplomatic fallout, even if it clashes with Washington. “The days are over that terrorist leaders will have immunity anywhere,” – Netanyahu said at an event on Tuesday evening.
Israel had vowed to track down and kill every Hamas member involved on the Oct. 7, 2023. In the same month after the Hamas attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared – “Every Hamas member is a dead man.” The next month in November, War cabinet minister Benny Gantz announced that Israel will hunt down Hamas leaders “in Gaza and around the world.”
Israel had given enough warnings. It is now executing its promise to kill every single Hamas member. Even in the weeks before the attack in Qatar, Hamas leaders got a vague but stern warning from the Egyptian and Turkish officials – “tighten security around your meetings”. While Khalil al-Hayya was lucky to escape the strike, he made the mistake of underestimating Israeli’s threat to eliminate Hamas.
As cease-fire talks continue breaking down, Defense Minister Israel Katz had threatened to annihilate the Gaza-based group’s overseas leaders if militants didn’t lay down their arms. Make no mistake – unlike U.S. President Donald Trump’s empty rhetoric, the Jewish state was not bluffing over its plan to occupy Gaza as it ordered a complete evacuation of Gaza City.
Having killed off most of the militant group’s senior leaders inside Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, architects of the October 7 attacks, Israel began preparing months ago for a complex attack on Hamas leaders outside of Gaza. Intelligence operatives killed Haniyeh in a heavily guarded military guesthouse in Tehran and wounded thousands of members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia by simultaneously exploding their pagers.
Interestingly, Israel could but did not use Mossad in its latest assault on Qatar. Instead, it deliberately displayed its air force prowess – tactics for attacking at great distances with repeated strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen and hundreds of missions over Iran, each more than 1,000 miles away. The distance from Tel Aviv to Doha is well over 1,000 miles.
But the fact that the Israeli jets could get close enough to use long-range guided missiles without flying directly over the sensitive airspace of Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates should send shivers down the spine of its enemies in the region. It could attack from the Persian Gulf without asking for any permission. And it will simply try to kill Khalil again next time.
It is now a false assumption that Israel wouldn’t dare attack Hamas leadership on Qatari soil due to the assumption that the Americans would prevent it. It might be true to a certain extent during the Biden administration. Rather than seeking Western approval for each escalation, Israel is demonstrating that it will act unilaterally to protect its interests. There is a change in how Israel projects power.
The choice to strike in Qatar specifically sends multiple messages. First, it ends the fiction that Hamas’s “political wing” operates separately from its military operations. These leaders “cheered the October 7 massacre” from their comfortable exile, directly complicit in every rocket fired and every hostage taken. Second, it challenges Qatar’s double game of positioning itself as a mediator while providing sanctuary to terror leadership.
More importantly, the airstrike also delivers a message to other countries like Malaysia to think twice about protecting and harbouring Hamas terrorists because geographical distance no longer provides immunity. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, a strong supporter of Hamas, has donated RM200 million to the Hamas-Palestinian terrorist group. The country is also a favourite transit point for members of terrorist groups, including ISIS, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), al-Qaeda, and Jemaah Islamiyah.
Anwar Ibrahim might be emboldened that India could not do anything as he continues to protect and harbour Indian Muslim hate preacher Zakir Naik, who was granted a permanent resident, but promotes extremism and spewed hatred against Malaysian Chinese and Indians. But Israel is not India, and Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t a weakling like Narendra Modi.
Israel‘s Mossad is among intelligence agencies operating in Malaysia. The last thing Prime Minister Anwar, whose close relationship with Muslim Brotherhood is a public knowledge, wants is to provoke Tel Aviv by welcoming Hamas top leaders and offering Malaysia as the terrorists’ new safe haven. Hamas is paying the price – winning stupid prizes for playing stupid games. Anwar should stop playing the same game.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Desperate For Distraction – PM Anwar Should Rally Against Bullying, Corruption & Extremism, Not Over Hamas-Palestinian
- Paying The Price For Hamas Attacks – How Trump Misled Iran Before Israel Sends 200 Jets To Attack
- Where’s Hero Anwar? – Palestinians Staged Largest Anti-Hamas Protests, Only To Be Tortured & Executed
- Ran Out Of Luck And Place To Hide – Here’s How Israel Trainee Squad Accidentally Killed Hamas Mastermind Sinwar
- Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword – Anwar Madly Angry After BFF Hamas Terrorist Leader Haniyeh Assassinated
- Playing A Dangerous Game – Here’s Why Facebook Removes News Of PM Anwar Meeting With Hamas Terrorists
- Hamas Is Game Over – How The Terror Group Miscalculated, Betrayed, Abandoned And Made More Mistakes
- Careful What You Wish For – U.S. May Slap Economic Sanction On Malaysia For Supporting & Training Hamas Terrorists
- Human Shields – How Hamas Cleverly Wins Propaganda War, But Was Stunned By “Fire Power” Unleashed By Israel
- Told You So!! – Congrats To Anwar For Radicalizing School Kids As Potential Hamas Terrorists Playing With Guns
- An Eye For An Eye!!! – No One Can Stop Israel From Reducing Gaza To Rubble And Erase Hamas Terrorists
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September 11th, 2025 by financetwitter
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