How can it be that Qatar’s position is only getting better and better?

About a year ago, after the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas in the south of the country, Qatar was faced with a real crisis. The Muslim Emirate, a supporter of the terrorist organization, its major financier (with the partial approval of Israel and the USA), and which hosted and continues to host its senior officials under magnificent conditions, was overnight linked in global public opinion to the horrific massacres of Hamas terrorists, to the murder of families, children and the elderly. Billions The dollars that flowed to Hamas, initially in suitcases, and then in transfers from Qatar’s representative in the Palestinian Authority, put the renegade country in the crosshairs of both the Israeli government and organizations that called for its boycott.

But a year later, Qatar’s position was not only intact, but even improved. She managed to distance herself from the actions of Hamas by joining the US and Egypt in the attempts to mediate between the organization and Israel, formed a humanitarian image for herself, and played a central role in the first and successful part (the only one so far), of the hostage release deal. She did not hesitate to scoop up the international credit for this , and was praised by senior Israelis, American representatives and heads of state of the European Union. Now, she is also involved in negotiations to try and reach a ceasefire in Lebanon.

In fact, it seems that in the past year, Qatar continued to do well what made the small country, threatened from all sides, one of the most advanced in the Arab world – working behind the scenes through a combination of huge investments, mediation, diplomacy and the utilization of its energy resources. All this to establish its security and its international status.

“It seems that Qatar’s international standing has not been damaged, and most likely improved,” says Ariel Admoni, a doctoral student who studies Qatar at Bar Ilan University. According to him, “Qatar has been careful to position itself as a ‘contractor’ of Europe and the US in many fields in the Middle East in general, and in Gaza in particular, in the last year. Whether it is humanitarian aid in Gaza, aid to the Lebanese army or even flights of Afghan deportees from Germany back to their country. Many senior officials from Europe have made a pilgrimage to Doha in the past year or received representatives of the royal family in their capitals. Qatar was able to present itself as a neutral mediator, as a humanitarian entity, and in fact, in retrospect, it was able to whitewash its connection to Hamas in the name of its current efforts.”

Warming up with Germany

The evidence of Qatar’s success in Europe is abundant. The national airline “Qatar Airways”, for example, not only did not face a possible consumer boycott – but expanded and launched new sponsorship deals. Last month it became the “Official Airline” of the UEFA Champions League. “The Qataris are the ones who have perfected the investment in sports as a strategy that allows one to set foot in different countries, often followed by financial investments and political and security cooperation,” Admoni outlines the Qatari way of working .

Germany is an example of improving relations. The country appealed to Qatar to receive natural gas after the Russian tap was shut down following the Nord Stream explosion. After the Minister of Economy and the Chancellor made a pilgrimage and met the Emir (and also hosted him with honor just days after October 7, 2023), Qatar, which sits on the largest gas field and reserves in the world (along with Iran), signed a deal for about two decades to supply gas to the country. Relations between the countries are getting warmer. In addition to holdings of between 10% and 15% by the Qatari wealth fund (QIA) in Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Hapag Lloyd, RWE and others are now discussing behind the scenes the sale of the gas infrastructure that belonged to the Russian Rosneft, which was nationalized after the war in Ukraine, to Qatar, which will flow billions in return to the country

Due to this, among other things, Germany removed many years of opposition, and following the “positive role played by Qatar” in the region, it approved the export of German weapons worth 100 million euros in the first half of 2024, including advanced self-propelled guns produced by it, which are considered offensive weapons. There are reports that the weapon is intended for Ukraine, but this is not clear.

“Kings of kings in Lebanon”

The Qataris, whose wealth depends on the export of natural gas, are also constantly trying to diversify their customers. After the agreements to supply Munzel gas to European customers, the Qataris concentrated in the last year on signing parallel agreements with China. This week an agreement was signed with the Dutch-British “Shell” company for the supply of naphtha (petroleum distillate, used as a base product for plastic products, fuel additives and the chemical industry) for 20 years – the longest and largest agreement regarding this commodity to date. The Qataris do not have a problem with money, this year’s GDP jumped to 87 thousand dollars per head, in terms of standardized purchasing power, and registers an increase of at least 20% every year for the last six years.

Relations with France, a longtime partner even before the renegade country became an influential force, are also thriving. Qatar took advantage of hosting the World Cup in soccer about two years ago to position itself from a security point of view, and “participated” in the security of the Olympics that took place this summer in France. During the visit of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in February 2024 to Paris, it was agreed on a Qatari investment of 10 billion euros in French startups until 2030.

And on the political front, last month the Emir of Qatar completed a first visit of its kind to Norway, Finland and Sweden, countries that were previously critical of human rights in the country, especially on the labor issue. The Qatar Gate scandal, in which very senior members of the European Union, from the professional wings, as well as members of parliament, were caught allegedly receiving suitcases of cash to “whiten” the image of workers’ rights in the Emirates ahead of the 2022 World Cup, was swept under the carpet. Relations between Qatar and the European Union were not really damaged, and this month a “dialogue on human rights” was held between them.

Now, as mentioned, the Qatari-European involvement is expanding to Lebanon as well. According to reports, the five countries involved in Lebanon (USA, France, Saudi Arabia, USA and Qatar) are trying to resolve the crisis of appointing the president to the country and to consolidate some kind of stability for it. According to Admoni, a possible compromise proposed by the states is to appoint a figure from the army. “Qatar wants this because it is the one that currently finances the Lebanese army, with salary, fuel vouchers and more. They are trying to consolidate for themselves the position of the kings of the kings in Lebanon, and we may find them in this position not only in Gaza, but also in the north.”