The Israeli aggression against Qatar, a US “regional ally,” demonstrates that submission to global imperialism offers no protection against the same system.

By: Musa Iqbal *

On Tuesday, ten Israeli warplanes left the occupied territories for Doha. Their target was the political leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), which had met to discuss the latest ceasefire proposal pushed by Washington.

The unprecedented attack against a US “regional ally” that has been mediating the ceasefire talks in Gaza amply demonstrates that the Israelis are willing to escalate the situation to new levels to assert their regional hegemony, dismissing the notion that a “neutral” or even US-aligned country would be immune to the escalating regional war.

An operation done in the USA

The alleged route of Israeli warplanes to Doha crossed several countries: Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and finally launched numerous attacks against the Hamas political office in the Qatari capital, near the diplomatic enclave.

Although the attack failed to eliminate Hamas’s top leadership, it sent a message to the Arab world, particularly those seeking U.S. economic and security guarantees as a means of achieving “peace”: they have surrendered their sovereignty in exchange for becoming a market for U.S. corporations and interests.

Israel, an appendage of global imperialism, has already been given a blank check to attack even “friendly” countries if it so desires. And, moreover, it won’t be Israel alone doing so: the aggression will be in full collaboration with the United States.

To understand the level of collaboration, it is necessary to chronologically examine the set of events that led to the bombing of Doha. For nearly two years, ceasefire (surrender) proposals were sent to the Hamas leadership in Doha on several occasions, from the first days after Operation Al-Aqsa Storm until less than two weeks ago.

Each time, the Hamas leadership met in Doha or elsewhere, examined the proposals, and acted accordingly.

Over the past 23 months of genocide in Gaza, Zionism and US imperialism have recorded the pattern of meetings of the Resistance leaders.

Without a doubt, the Resistance leaders are under intense surveillance by the US, Israel, and other minor imperialist partners (such as the United Kingdom). Using sophisticated technology and likely spies (or collaborators) on Qatari soil, they can pinpoint the location and time of these meetings.

This is a precedent already set during the 12-day war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, where collaborators worked with Israeli intelligence to pinpoint when and where members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would gather after the Israeli attack began; they then directed the attack on IRGC headquarters, resulting in the martyrdom of several high-ranking commanders.

The attack on Iran occurred on the eve of the sixth round of indirect nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, mediated by Oman. This is how the Americans use “negotiations” as a cover to advance their imperialist agenda in the region.

Washington particularly pushed the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza, presenting it as a final ultimatum to the Hamas leadership. They wanted them to meet, only to assassinate them.

On the day of the attack, citizen journalists, using open-source data and intelligence, were able to track the trajectory of US and UK warplanes in Qatari airspace, as well as other aircraft launched under the command and control of US Central Command (Centcom), which enabled the Israeli aggression to begin.

It is indisputable: US and UK warplanes left Qatari airspace from their bases inside Qatar, refueled the Zionist warplanes to hit their target in Doha, and then returned to their occupation base in the occupied territories.

The attack on Doha was permitted with the full cooperation of the US, planned days in advance, and shamelessly assisted by US and British agents from within Qatar. Furthermore, no air defense systems were activated to confront the Israeli warplanes.

The same air defense systems that were activated to counter the Iranian missiles targeting the Al-Udeid airbase were not present. As a result, five people were reportedly martyred in the terrorist attack: four members of the Palestinian Resistance movement and a Qatari citizen.

In a statement, US President Donald Trump insisted that the US was unaware of the attacks until the last minute, when they warned Qatar, but it was already “too late.” In typical American doublespeak, Trump expressed regret over the attacks, shifting blame away from the US, while reaffirming that the target was “worthy.”

It’s clear that, based on the facts on the ground, the logistical structure of the attack, and the conditions that led to its occurrence, Trump is lying and trying to manipulate political damage to a U.S. regional ally that hosts thousands of troops.

Trump’s rhetoric is a well-known and understood reality. What the Israeli aggression in Qatar truly demonstrates is that submission to the imperialist world system does not protect you from the imperialist system itself.

A fatal friendship

Qatar hosts the most significant US military base in West Asia: Al-Udeid Air Base. It houses thousands of troops, billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment, and personnel who directly collaborate with the Qatari state security apparatus.

The base and security agreement between the US and Qatar allow the US military to conduct surveillance flights, attacks, and logistical operations in the region. Most of these operations target the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Yemeni popular Ansarullah movement.

The base’s logistical purpose is most practically seen in its assistance to the Israeli occupation: routinely delivering weapons to bases within the occupied territories, as well as refueling Israeli aircraft during offensives.

In exchange for this sophisticated US base on Qatari soil, Qatar receives “security guarantees”: access to arms purchases, training, and security promises from US partners—but not from US allies like the Israeli occupation, apparently.

Although Qatar has increased its arsenal of Western weapons, the same Patriot systems that were activated to protect US interests in Qatar during the 12-day war were not activated to protect Qatari citizens.

Aside from the weapons systems themselves, Qatar also participated in a joint military exercise with the Zionist occupation earlier this year, a drill designed to emulate mid-air refueling, a tactic used by both the US and Israel to attack Iran.

Qatar’s submission to a massive US military presence and its flirtation with normalization in the form of war games with the occupation were not enough to save it from aggression on its own soil.

The Israeli aggression on Qatari soil is a blatant humiliation of the Gulf Arab state and a message to all countries in the region that Israel can and will operate with total impunity, even if you are considered an ally of imperialism.

Qatar, by US standards, did everything right. It gave Donald Trump a $400 million plane to use as Air Force One. It hosted thousands of US troops and tons of US military equipment, used to carry out aggression against fellow Muslim and Arab countries. It opened itself up to American capitalists, becoming a new market for the American ruling class.

Despite this, he finds himself humiliated, cleaning up the debris from an airstrike masterminded by the Americans occupying his soil, and burying a fellow countryman.

Perhaps worst of all—not a single shot was fired from its sophisticated US arsenal to drive out the Zionist air raiders.

Will other Arab countries with similar security arrangements learn from this episode? It’s hard to say. Since Israeli aggression won’t be met with a worthy military response, one thing is clear: Arab regimes, armed to the teeth with US weapons, are only allowed to target two targets: their own people if they rise up against them, or any common enemy shared by the United States.

The Arab ruling classes, installed by colonialism, supported by petrodollars, and governing through Western-backed weapons, play a primary role not as heads of a supposedly sovereign state, but as guarantors of US financial domination.

Their security guarantees are for themselves only, as long as they remain aligned with preserving the rule of law, rather than the dominance of the dollar.

It would take an anti-imperialist awakening—probably led by a popular movement—to change the ideological stance of the Arab states that huddle around Zionist-imperialism.

The American war criminal Henry Kissinger comes to mind with his famous phrase: “It may be dangerous to be the enemy of the United States, but to be its friend is fatal.”

• Musa Iqbal is a US-based researcher and editor of Vox Ummah.