Shaul Amir

August 20, 2014

And you thought that you got rid of me, well as they say: “It ain’t over until it’s over”.

Last night at 10:30 pm, sirens again. The Hamas broke the ceasefire a few hours earlier. We have now entered some form of a war of attrition which from Israel’s point of view is not an acceptable situation.

In order to understand what can be done, it is essential to understand what happened behind the scene. And as strange as it may sound, the US has as lot to do with it and also can do a lot to solve the situation.

A few facts:

• Qatar has a young (34) extreme, fundamental, Muslim Emir.
• The Qatar Emirate has billions and billions of dollars to spend
• Qatar’s army is about the size of a Brigade.
• The Emir of Qatar purchased weapons and military equipment from the US worth $11 billion.
• Qatar is the main financier of Hamas and thus demand to be in the negotiation as they also know that it will be their money which will rebuild Gaza.

The Egyptians and Israel refused their involvement. Qatar told Khaled Mashaal, who is the leader of external Hamas that if the Hamas agrees to the Egyptian proposal for a long term settlement, they will deport him. Now the cycle is complete.

Qatar, a small country of about 2.2 million that holds the world hostage not only with regards to the Hamas but also by the support they give to Al Qaida. The US needs the money the Qataris spend in the United States and the employment it creates. As the huge and strong lobby of the weapons manufacturers has an effect on the both Houses, the US is trying to get Qatar involved.

What can be done? As the US representative system is one that can be affected by public opinion (elections in November, remember?) some questions have to be asked. Why does Qatar need so much weapons and weapon systems? Why doesn’t the US threaten the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Eben Hamed Al Thani that it will, together with Saudi Arabia declare a financial siege on her, confiscate its bank accounts and sanction it until they leave the support of terror all over the globe? It has been done before to other countries, ie, Russia with the Ukraine involvement, to Israel by withholding needed arms to fight terrorism and so on.

All that remains to do is to call your Congressman and Senators and ask the questions. Maybe you, my friends, can bring peace to our bitten region.