‘Doing everything they can’: Trump voices appreciation of Qatar’s mediation role

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says Qatar “is absolutely trying to help” after being asked about the role Doha has been playing in Gaza.

Critics of Doha, including many in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle, have pointed to its close ties to Hamas and its funding to Gaza that indirectly allowed the terror group to prioritize building up its arsenal to attack Israel.

Qatar, in turn, has argued that Israel — and the US — lobbied aggressively for Doha to make such payments in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Netanyahu, himself, defended those payments in an interview with Time magazine last year.

“Qatar is absolutely trying to help. I know them well, and they’re doing everything they can. Very tough situation, but they’re absolutely trying to help,” Trump says, while taking questions from reporters ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu at the White House.

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