Qatar’s Master Class in Manipulation

As Israeli hostage families literally run into Gaza in the hope of somehow retrieving their loved ones, it is important to recognize how we got here. International observers might be somewhat confused by the reality they see in Israel. There seems to be broad Israeli support for military pressure to bring back the hostages. At the same time, though, hostage families seem to be shouting – at the top of their lungs – “GIVE HAMAS EVERYTHING.”

The hostage families – at least those who are shouting – want to surrender the Egyptian-Gazan border which has been the conduit for so many arms. They want to surrender Netzarim, which controls the internal flow of terrorists and arms. They want to surrender to Hamas for the sake of their loved ones. While their personal desire is entirely understandable, on a state level their policy would be one of national suicide. Sinwar himself was returned on a prior hostage deal; every time Hamas is rewarded for their actions, they become more blatant about them. A permanent ceasefire would be interpreted as an outright Hamas victory. A surrender of the border would condemn countless Israelis to further violence.

So why do the loudest hostage families seem so blind to this reality? The reason is that those families are not random. Hamas, and presumably their sponsors in Qatar and Iran, chose which settlements to take hostages from. As the following graph demonstrates, they chose on the basis of politics.

The Politics of Kidnapping

Left-wing settlements not only had more victims, they had a far higher percentage of those victims taken as hostages. People were murdered in right-wing settlements, but almost none were taken hostage. Almost none were chosen to form a permanent sore in Israeli society.

With this data alone, it isn’t hard to imagine the Qataris expecting exactly the response they’ve had: vociferous demands for surrender in return for hostages. These left-wing and hard-left communities have always been against a military response. They are in opposition politically, and they formed the core of anti-government protests prior to the war. The hostages could be expected to exacerbate a fundamental fracture in Israeli society. In other words, the hostages were chosen based on the communities they were taken from.

The reality goes even deeper.

The Richard Center for Global Engagement is a world-renowned hostage negotiation group. On October 8th, they began to represent and help design the strategies that would be adopted by the hostage families. Their Vice-President, Mickey Bergman, has made a number of "practical" suggestions. Among them:

• “The only way to get the hostages out fast is for Israel to give in to Hamas’ demands, which include ending the war and releasing all Palestinian terrorists from prison.”
• “Pressure on Qatar would be counterproductive because Qatar holds all the leverage.”

What the Richardson Center didn’t talk about was that the Qatari government has provided them with more than $2 million from 2019 to 2023. When this was disclosed, they scrubbed any mention of Qatar from their website.

In other words, the world’s leading hostage negotiation group had been subsumed by Qatari money in the leadup to a hostage-taking conducted by Qatari-funded terrorists. Those terrorists’ perspectives have been faithfully represented by Al Jazeera, the propaganda arm of the Qatari government.

To unravel the whole thing, here is a timeline:

• 2019: Qatar starts funding the Richardson Center.
• Oct. 7th, 2023: Qatari-funded terrorists invade Israel. They kill primarily in left-leaning towns and take hostages almost entirely from left-leaning towns.
• Oct. 8th, 2023: The Qatari-funded Richardson Center begins to work "on behalf" of hostage families, helping with the negotiations, their public presentation and their relationship with Qatar.
• Every day since: Qatari-funded Al Jazeera works to condemn Israeli operations in Gaza.
• Every day since: Hostage families demand Israeli surrender to those same Qatari-funded terrorists, not only reinforcing Hamas but driving a wedge into Israeli society.

This is a natural play on the part of Hamas, Qatar and Iran. A smart totalitarian will always play the internal politics of free societies – it is an easily exploitable chink in the dragon’s armor. If you fail to do it, you end up facing an enemy that is not only united but has far more resources than you do, as free societies tend to be more productive. The Nazis made that mistake. ISIS made it. Hamas has made it in the past. On the other hand, the Soviets and quite a few of their proxies were decent at the division game. The Tet Offensive was a master stroke in this vein. In today’s world, Iran and its little friend Qatar are world-class. They are always playing the internal politics of the Saudis, Americans and Israelis. They are the best in the world at doing so.

So, what should Israelis do?

1. Israel must come to realize the degree to which they are being played. This will strengthen our resolve in this conflict. I’ve made my position in support of the North Gaza Project (northgaza.org) clear.
2. The world should open its eyes to the nefarious activities of Qatar. They affect not only Israel, but the United States. Qatar has spent $4.7 billion since 2001 on American universities. From 2016, Qatar has spent $250 million lobbying in the US. Only China (a stunning $5.4B in lobbying), Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Liberia have outstripped them. Then there is Al Jazeera. Americans have to realize that they are being played.

As soon as the blinders come off, Qatar’s games will cease to be effective. A small country with little but money to play with, Qatar has done an impressive job on the international stage. Many have been blinded by their manipulations without even realizing it. If the enemies of Qatar realize they are being played, then the game itself will be tossed aside and the manipulations of Qatar will come to naught.

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For those who would extend this to all Muslims, consider this: Qatar and the UAE are involved in proxy wars with one another in Sudan and Libya. Both have money, but they have very distinct visions of what should be.

Also note that I don’t stand with the right-wing on judicial reform. As I’ve also made clear, I think both sides are dangerously wrong and should know it. Heck, Aristotle wrote about the problems we’re facing almost 2500 years ago. This is why I wrote my proposed Israel Constitution (israelconstitution.org.il).