Qatari emir tells UN situation in Gaza ‘is genocide in every sense of the word’

UNITED NATIONS — Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani says that restraining Israeli “aggression” across the Middle East poses “the true test of the international community’s seriousness” in upholding the rule of law.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Sheikh Tamim tears into Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.

“There can be no talk of a just international order as long as Palestine remains a blind spot within it,” the Qatari emir says.

“What has transpired in Gaza is genocide in every sense of the word, and a stain of shame on the conscience of humanity as a whole,” he argues. Israel flatly rejects such allegations, insisting that its military abides by the international laws of war, while Hamas hides among civilians.

“Future generations will be astonished by the enormous gap between the scale of the catastrophe and the level of the international response to stop it,” Tamim says, calling out Israeli political leaders from across the political spectrum who are advocating for the “encouraged emigration” of Gazans — a euphemism that the Qatari emir says actually amounts to forced displacement.

“Instead of looking in the mirror, they resort to hurling accusations indiscriminately in all directions — at times, invoking accusations of antisemitism, and at others resorting to conspiracy theories and accusing other powers and states of being responsible for creating their negative image,” he says, apparently referencing Israeli accusations that Qatar is funding incitement against Israel in various arenas.

“It’s as though… Israeli soldiers had not boasted through both sound and visuals of their crimes, and as though images of the crimes against humanity committed in Gaza had not been circulated by an entire generation of young people across the world,” Tamim says.

He highlights Qatar’s efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas throughout the Gaza war in order to secure ceasefires and hostage release deals.

Doha has been regularly criticized in Israel for hosting Hamas and sending funds to Gaza that allowed the terror group to build up its arsenal, but Qatar argues that it was asked by Israel to perform those functions.

Tamim laments the stalled Board of Peace plan for Hamas to disarm, blasting Israel for failing to honor its commitments under the agreement to halt its strikes, pull back its troops from Gaza and expand the entry of humanitarian aid.

“We fear that those who regard displacement as the solution will obstruct anything that could ease the lives of the population, because this would strengthen their resilience on their land,” Tamim says.

The Qatari emir also highlights “persecution, apartheid, and settler terrorism in the occupied West Bank, the desecration of Islamic and Christian holy sites” and the denial of Palestinian self-determination.

He hits out at Israeli buffer zones in Lebanon and Syria, saying the only justification that Jerusalem has used to defend the former is its distrust of the new regime in Damascus.

“Its destruction of entire villages in southern Lebanon in broad daylight is reminiscent of its history in Palestine,” the emir laments.