Doha, Qatar
Has Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s appointed special U.S. Middle East envoy, been incontrovertibly corrupted by Qatar?
The question is prompted by the stench of
the proposed ceasefire with Hamas that was announced on May 29. Even
though Hamas has been reduced to a toothless shell, the deal would have
Israel agreeing to a ceasefire for 60 days and then withdrawing from
strategic territory that it paid for, inch by inch, with the precious
blood of Israeli soldiers and the broken hearts of the Israeli people.
Paid for during a defensive war that definitively spoke to the most
heinous violations of Western civilization since the Holocaust.
The cherry on top is that instead of
contractors employed under the auspices of the U.S. government to
provide aid to the civilians in Gaza, the United Nations would be
charged with that task. This is the same world body that, despite
vehement protests by Israel, sat by for decades, ignoring the obvious
and the blatant violations of U.N. Resolution 1701, which ended the war
in Lebanon in 2006. In agreeing to the resolution, Israel envisioned
buying security; it ended up with an entrenched Hezbollah stronghold
that included an arsenal of 150,000 missiles.
And for swallowing this sour apple, only
10 of the emaciated, tortured and starved living hostages, and the
remains of 18 already deceased, out of the remaining 58 hostages, shall
be delivered to Israel.
This is a shameful deal that offers nothing but more Israeli heartbreak and demoralization.
Why are we negotiating with barbarians,
especially those who have been substantially defeated and defanged? Why
isn’t the full weight and force of the U.S. government being leveraged
for the complete and immediate release of all remaining hostages?
Wouldn’t the universal spine of Western civilization be strengthened and
reinforced by not stooping to such depravity?
The court of “international opinion,” long
a factor in determining U.S. policy in the Middle East, lies dormant at
this moment in the shadow of Russian thuggery in Ukraine. The Gulf
states, no friends of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, shed no tears
with the disempowerment of a mortal foe. Saudi Arabia shares the same
perspective on Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. As the patron of
Islam’s holiest site, Saudi Arabia may feel some sort of obligation to
appear as a “protector” of Islam, but enough so to overturn the
applecart?
Does Qatar find some contorted utility in
keeping the ghost of Hamas alive? And, if so, has Qatar had its fingers
in the crafting of the odious deal that Witkoff has put forth?
It is common knowledge that in 2023, the
Qatar Investment Authority, controlled and operated by the government of
Qatar, benefactor of Hamas and host to Hamas leadership, bailed out
Witkoff’s Park Lane Hotel
in New York. Having visited Qatar and spoken at real estate forums,
Witkoff is enamored by hotel opportunities in Qatar. It would be hard to
believe that the temptation of such a massive opportunity has not
tainted his better judgment.
When it comes to the questionable habit of
“dealing with the devil,” the special envoy regretfully does not stand
alone. In fact, it has been documented by Benjamin Baird,
a researcher for the Middle East Forum, that since 2012, Qatar has been
on a $40 billion shopping spree in the United States. Baird’s study,
“America for Sale,” meticulously catalogued Qatar’s insatiable
acquisition of real assets, public opinion and educational influence.
Business and real estate are one thing. But the $6.25 billion that Qatar
has bestowed on educational institutions and the $72 million it has
spent on public relations raise a red flag of great concern.
And there should be, because it has been
documented that this overgenerous flow of Qatari money has been the
locomotive driving the anti-American, anti-Israeli and antisemitic
activity that has besieged college campuses across the nation. It has
been the opiate behind the willful blindness to these events by college
administrators and the institutions that have been on the receiving end
of Qatari largesse. The excessive Qatari public relations campaign has
skillfully taken the offensive edge off of the monstrously
anti-American, antisemitic core of the progressive movement to the
extent that members of Congress, openly spouting anti-American,
antisemitic rhetoric, have achieved the status of “protected species.”
According to Human Rights Watch, 95% of Qatar’s population is made up of foreign workers, who Amnesty International says continue to face human-rights issues. Qatar politically and culturally represents the antithesis of everything the United States stands for.
In a world where democracy is being
challenged on all fronts, Witkoff, in executing his responsibilities,
should seek policies that strengthen democratic allies like Israel
instead of deflating them.
No comments:
Post a Comment