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DOHA, Qatar: Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday called on the international community to drop “double standards” and hold Israel accountable, just ahead of an emergency summit convened in response to an unprecedented Israeli raid on Hamas militants in Doha.
The fatal assault — launched by one US ally against the land of another — set off criticism in its wake, including a rebuke by President Donald Trump, who nonetheless sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Israel as a display of support.
Monday’s emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders will be a demonstration of Gulf cohesion and aim to add more pressure on Israel, already under increasing calls to put an end to the Gaza war and humanitarian crisis.
Qatar PM urges world to reject punish Israel
The moment has arrived for the international community to cease applying double standards and to sanction Israel for all the atrocities it has committed,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in an emergency preparatory meeting on Sunday, saying Israel’s “war of extermination” in Gaza would fail.
“What is inspiring Israel to carry on… is the silence, the failure of the international community to hold it accountable.
Among the chiefs due to attend Monday’s gathering are Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Doha on Sunday.
Monday’s meeting will discuss “a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar,” according to Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari.
‘Rein in Israel’
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with Al Jazeera Sunday that the issue of Israel’s conduct “is no longer just a Palestine-Israel issue.”
“The greatest problem at the moment is Israeli expansionism in the area,” he explained.
“Arab and Islamic nations need to get together and seek a solution on the basis of this newly defined problem.
Elham Fakhro, Harvard Middle East Initiative fellow, said she was anticipating Gulf states to “use the summit to call on Washington to rein in Israel”.
“They will also look for more robust US security guarantees, on the grounds that Israel’s behavior has made existing assurances look weak and has eroded US credibility as a security guarantor,” she further added.
Middle East professor Karim Bitar, of Paris’s Sciences Po University, described the meeting as a “litmus test” for Arab and Muslim leaders, stating that many of their supporters were “sick and tired of the old-style communiques”.
What they are looking for today is that these nations… give a very significant message not only to Israel but also to the United States that the time has come for the international community to finally stop granting this blank check to Israel,” he said.
Qatar PM urges world to reject punish Israel
Qatar is home to the largest US military base in the region and serves as an important mediator of the Israel-Hamas conflict, along with the United States and Egypt.
Sheikh Mohammed had dinner with President Trump on Friday during his visit to the United States.
Hamas politburo member Bassem Naim explained that the militant movement expected the summit to yield “a decisive and unified Arab-Islamic position”.
