From Gaza to Doha: Netanyahu’s War Goes Global

Here Israel strikes again.
Last Tuesday, the Middle East’s perennial favorite aggressor fired rockets at the Gulf capital Doha, targeting leaders of Hamas who were engaged in negotiations over a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip — where the number of Palestinian martyrs from the official Israeli campaign of extermination has surpassed 64,000 in under two years. Yahoo+3Anadolu Ajansı+3Newsweek+3

And if Israel has repeatedly shown no appetite for any calm — even that proposed by the great power that is the most loyal sponsor of its crimes — that is because the entity itself is founded on erasing Palestinians and living in a state of permanent aggression. Since 1948, through policies of displacement, land expropriation, military occupation, demolitions, and settlements, various international bodies and NGOs—including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and UN human rights reports—have documented systematic rights violations, forced displacement, and acts that critics argue amount to apartheid. Human Rights Watch+2LSHTM+2

But while people of conscience have long regarded Israel as a rogue state, the unprecedented attack on Qatar has opened the eyes of parts of the international community to how unrestrained the Israeli government has become. This was not merely another regional escalation: it was a direct strike on a sovereign Gulf state that hosts U.S. bases, acts as a mediator, and whose territorial integrity is recognized under international law. According to reports, the UN Security Council condemned the strike on Doha and called for de-escalation, emphasising that all member states—including the United States—agreed that Qatar’s sovereignty must be respected. Al Jazeera+1

For example, major powers such as Britain, France, and India — despite their varying degrees of involvement or silence regarding Israeli military operations in Gaza — issued unusually strong statements of condemnation after the strike on Doha. Some raised the issue of breaches of international law, including violations of sovereignty and unlawful strikes on political officials in foreign territory. (E.g. the UN Security Council statement was drafted by France and the United Kingdom.) Al Jazeera+1

That is not to say, of course, that targeting Hamas leaders in a country that hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East is morally more horrific than killing tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that even the staunchest defenders of Israel’s criminal recklessness have drawn a new red line: Israel does not have the right to bomb whoever it wants, wherever it wants, on a whim. The fact that the United Nations, sympathetic states, and parts of the global public are reacting strongly suggests that this strike may mark a turning point in perceptions of what Israel’s actions will be tolerated under international norms.

The White House responded, through spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, by saying that “unilateral strikes on Qatar — a sovereign state and a close U.S. partner that has made courageous efforts to help secure peace — do not serve the interests of Israel or the United States.”
But before we attribute logic or consistency to the White House position, Leavitt added: “But eliminating Hamas, which has profited from the suffering of Gaza’s population, is a goal worth pursuing.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, Leavitt said, reassured the Qataris that “something like this will not happen again on their soil.”
Still, Qatar is entitled to feel that such “reassurance” is an illusion, since it is now clear Trump has effectively abandoned control over what Israel does — or does not do — on others’ territory. The U.S.’s longstanding role as diplomatic guarantor seems undermined by its reluctance to prevent or meaningfully condemn this particular strike.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed this reality when he posted on social media on Wednesday: “Israel’s long arm will pursue its enemies wherever they are. There is nowhere they can hide.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly threatened Qatar, saying: “I tell Qatar and every country that harbors terrorists: either expel them, or hold them accountable… If you do not, we will do it.”

As usual, the entity that today monopolizes regional terror, after nearly eight decades of Israeli ethnic cleansing, dispossession and massacres against Palestinians, has no compunction about defining who is “terrorist” and then attacking them at will. Israel’s definition of terrorism has been criticized in international law circles for being vague, overly broad, and applied unilaterally. The risk is that many civilians, or non-combatant political actors, become targets under this label. Various UN and NGO reports warn against using “terrorism” as justification for violations of the laws of war. Human Rights Watch+1

Given Israel’s false and deceptive definition of “terrorism,” the danger is not limited to Qatar alone. According to Netanyahu himself, “all countries that harbor terrorists” are on the list of those who may face “Israel’s justice,” which usually means war crimes and blatant violations of international law. That list, in practice, could include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, or even states in Europe where leadership or members of Palestinian organizations reside.

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday that Israel carried out military operations in six countries in just 72 hours. In addition to Palestine and Qatar, the strikes covered Lebanese, Syrian, Tunisian and Yemeni territory, where Israel killed 35 people in Yemen just one day after bombing Doha. Those reports point to a regional spillover effect, raising the risk of broader conflict and diplomatic crisis. AP News+2Reuters+2

Thus no one can say with certainty who will be safe from “Israel’s long arm” in the future, but the list of the safe appears very small. For decades, the Israeli Mossad has shown full readiness to assassinate Palestinians even on European soil — as documented by investigative journalism, intelligence leaks, and inter-state legal complaints.

And today, amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, every “terrorist” — by Israel’s definition — who can be located abroad is a boon to Israel: useful for justifying its crimes and distracting attention from them. The targeting extends the war beyond military logic into moral and legal battlegrounds, where civilian harm, displacement, destruction of infrastructure, and deprivation of essential services are part of the pattern of assault. For instance, Human Rights Watch documented deliberate, repeated damage to Gaza’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure; hospitals and sanitation facilities have been bombed, rendering civilians more vulnerable. Human Rights Watch

As Israel basks in the intoxication of the absolute impunity it enjoys and in its ability to wreak destruction wherever it wishes, Netanyahu’s implicit declaration of war on the entire world should, at the very least, be a final alarm bell for those still deceived by the mirage of “Israeli justice” that kills. The international rules, treaties, and courts that are supposed to constrain such behavior — the Geneva Conventions, UN Charter, International Criminal Court — are being tested. If they fail to act, the consequences will ripple far beyond Gaza or Doha.

Selected References & Citations

1. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine / The Lancet — Study estimating more than 64,000 traumatic injury deaths in Gaza between October 2023 and June 2024, significantly above official counts. LSHTM

2. Gaza Health Ministry — Official count of over 64,600 Palestinians killed (Gaza officials) as of early September 2025. Anadolu Ajansı+1

3. United Nations Security Council — Statement condemning the strike on Doha, calling for de-escalation, including U.S. support. Al Jazeera+1

4. Al Jazeera — Coverage of the strike on Hamas leadership in Doha, and note of Qatar’s mediation efforts and diplomatic actions after the strike. Al Jazeera+1

5. Human Rights Watch (HRW) — Report “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians Gaza” documenting destruction of critical infrastructure (WASH), displacement, and potential war crimes. Human Rights Watch

6. Academic / Legal Analysis — The Lancet and LSHTM analysis showing underreporting of deaths and the breakdown of health infrastructure, displacement and civilian suffering. LSHTM+2Human Rights Watch+2

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