Douglas Murray: Qatars gestures to Trump raise suspicions on both ends of the political spectrum
The government of Qatar had a surprise for President Trump on his recent visit to the Middle East.That was the release of the last American-born hostage being held in Gaza.
Edan Alexander, 21, was freed by the Qatari-funded group Hamas as a gesture to Trump.Two questions obviously arise from that “gesture.”The first: If Hamas can just release hostages like this why won’t they release all of them, whether they were born in America or not?The answer to that is clear: It is because the Qataris and Hamas don’t want to release all the hostages.They want to keep hold of them for as long as possible to exert as much leverage as possible.The second question is less easy to answer.If Qatar is so close with Hamas, how on earth can they be regarded as an ally of the United States?It is that second question that has hovered over the president’s trip this week.In the main, the visit to the region has been a tremendous success.
The huge, hundreds of billions of dollars investment deal that President Trump announced in Saudi Arabia is something everyone can celebrate.As is the president’s pushing of Saudi Arabia and perhaps even Syria to join the Abraham Accords.These are significant steps toward peace in a region that badly needs it.But the smells emanating from Qatar give off a far nastier aroma.Much of the media has tried to overshadow the trip by focusing on the Qatari “gift” to Trump of a new $400 billion jet to replace the allegedly jaded Air Force One.
But it’s not just Democrats and the media who are questioning Trump accepting such a gift.Republican Senator Susan Collins criticized Trump’s decision to accept the gift, pointing out that the gift seems “rife with political espionage.”That is to seriously understate matters.Because as the New York Post reported yesterday the Qatari jet actually belonged to the former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hama bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
His initials — HBJ — are even in the plane’s tail number.And ...