Netanyahu renews criticism of Qatar and defends the 2025 Doha attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed Qatar as an adversary and defended Israel’s attack on Doha last year in an interview covered by Euronews on September 6. He rejected suggestions that Qatar had dictated Israeli policy. The remarks reopen a sensitive diplomatic issue involving a Gulf state whose security the United States has explicitly pledged to support.

According to Euronews, Netanyahu was defending his government’s handling of Qatari money transferred to Gaza before the October 2023 Hamas attacks. He maintained that the transfers served humanitarian purposes and had backing from Israeli security agencies. These are his explanations of earlier policy, rather than independently established findings about the money’s eventual use.

Washington’s written commitment

The relevant American policy is set out in Executive Order 14353, signed on September 29, 2025. It identifies Qatar’s hosting of US forces and its mediation work as reasons for protecting the country against external attack. The order says an armed attack on Qatari territory, sovereignty or critical infrastructure would threaten American peace and security.

The document provides for lawful diplomatic and economic measures, and military action if necessary. It also directs joint contingency planning and continued cooperation with Qatar on mediation. Implementation remains subject to applicable law and available appropriations. Those provisions establish the scope and limits of a written policy commitment; they should not be read as evidence that Washington has ordered a new military response to the interview.

A wider sovereignty dispute

Qatar’s security also features in a separate European diplomatic position. In a July 12 statement, Britain, France and Germany condemned Iranian attacks on regional countries, including Qatar, and on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. They supported territorial sovereignty, freedom of navigation and renewed negotiations. This earlier statement supplies regional context, without confirming any fresh attack or response associated with Netanyahu’s latest remarks.

The practical issue now is whether renewed political hostility affects diplomatic cooperation or prompts a formal clarification of security commitments. Statements from Israel, Qatar and the United States would help establish that. For now, the verified development is renewed rhetoric about an earlier confrontation. The reviewed material establishes neither a newly begun strike on Qatar nor a newly agreed ceasefire, and provides no basis for treating either as imminent.