Netanyahu calls Qatar ‘hostile state’ as Doha pushes back against Iran

Netanyahu brands Qatar “hostile state” amid escalating Gulf friction with Iran

Usagevpn.com – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed suggestions that Qatar shaped Israel’s wartime decisions during the Gaza conflict, labeling the Gulf nation a “hostile state” in remarks that landed against a backdrop of fresh public friction between Doha and Tehran over Iranian missile and drone strikes on Qatari soil. The comments, delivered in a domestic Israeli media interview, sharpened an already tense diplomatic landscape in which Qatar finds itself caught between its role as regional mediator and its proximity to an adversary that has repeatedly struck its territory.

Dismissing Qatari influence on Israeli policy

In a conversation with Israel’s i24NEWS, Netanyahu pushed back against narratives that Doha had pulled strings behind the scenes during the war. He acknowledged Qatar’s adversarial posture toward Israel while insisting the small Gulf state had not directed Israeli strategic choices.

“Qatar is a hostile state, but Qatar is not a state that dictated anything here,” Netanyahu said.

He went further, openly referencing the September 2025 Israeli airstrike on Doha:

“I attacked Qatar — I also bombed it.”

The September 2025 strike on Doha

That strike hit senior Hamas negotiators gathered in the Qatari capital as part of talks over a US-backed ceasefire framework for Gaza. Six people lost their lives in the bombing, among them a member of Qatar’s own security apparatus. Hamas later confirmed its senior negotiating delegation survived the attack. Doha formally condemned the operation as a breach of its sovereignty.

Weeks later, Netanyahu offered an apology during a trilateral phone call involving US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s prime minister, pledging that Israel would not repeat such an operation. The episode remains a sore point in bilateral relations and is frequently invoked by Qatari officials when discussing the limits of Israeli military freedom of action in the region.

The Qatari funding question

Netanyahu’s latest remarks were framed as a defense of his government’s handling of Qatari financial transfers into Gaza prior to the 7 October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel. He characterized the money as earmarked for humanitarian distribution and stated that Israeli security services had endorsed the transfer mechanism. Qatar has consistently maintained that it did not channel funds to Hamas, explaining that its aid reached Palestinian residents in Gaza through channels transparent to both Israeli and American authorities.

Doha issued no immediate public reaction to Netanyahu’s newest characterization, a silence that observers noted given the frequency with which the funding question resurfaces in Israeli political discourse.

Qatar and Iran clash over strike documentation

The remarks arrived at a moment when Doha and Tehran were locked in a public dispute over how to characterize Iranian missile and drone attacks that had struck Qatari territory. On Friday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari accused Tehran of cherry-picking language from a Qatari security document to bolster its argument that Iranian strikes had primarily aimed at US military installations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei had pointed to a Qatari security assessment prepared for the International Telecommunication Union, asserting it demonstrated that Iranian projectiles were directed at American military sites and spared civilian zones. Baghaei claimed the document indicated nearly all attacks targeted US facilities, with the sole exception being a March strike on gas infrastructure at Ras Laffan. He further alleged those facilities had been supporting US military operations against Iran.

Al Ansari dismissed that reading, stating Iran was extracting the document from its proper context.

“If the Iranian side wishes to reference official documentation, we invite it to refer to the record formally submitted by the State of Qatar to the United Nations,” he said.

He directed attention to Qatari filings before the UN that documented Iranian missiles traversing civilian, commercial, and residential zones, noting that earlier strikes had produced both structural damage and human casualties. Al Ansari also pushed back against Iran’s characterization of the Ras Laffan incident as merely “alleged,” emphasizing that the strike had been formally recorded by Qatari authorities.

“The State of Qatar is not a party to this conflict,” he said, adding that attacks on Qatari territory and civilian infrastructure could not be justified as legitimate responses.

Diplomatic channels and forward-looking posture

On the same Friday, Qatar dispatched letters to the UN Secretary-General and the president of the Security Council, formally rejecting Iran’s legal rationale for strikes that commenced on 28 February. Doha maintained that Tehran bore continuing responsibility under international law and that Qatar preserved its right to self-defense and to seek compensation for documented damage.

Qatar has signaled its intention to sustain diplomatic initiatives aimed at de-escalating regional tensions, even as the Gulf state navigates the delicate position of hosting Hamas leadership while simultaneously maintaining channels with Israeli and American counterparts. The episode underscores how Qatar’s geographic proximity to Iran, its established role as a regional mediator, and its complex bilateral relationships place it at the intersection of multiple competing security narratives — a position that Netanyahu’s “hostile state” label, however blunt, does not diminish.