US, Israel and Qatar expected to have held meeting in New York

Speculations about a meeting between the US, Israel, and Qatar in New York have been reported by The National via Axios on December 7th. This comes months after an Israeli strike on Qatar’s capital, which was said to have been targeting Hamas officials.

Reports suggested that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would host the meeting, and would be joined by Mossad spy chief David Barnea and a senior Qatari official.

The reported meeting comes after Israel carried out a strike on Hamas officials during a meeting in Doha, which was said to be based on discussing the Gaza ceasefire plan.

Many Qatari senior officials denounced the attack, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman previously referring to the attack as “state terrorism”. Backlash from Qatar was reiterated by the US, with President Donald Trump stating he was “very unhappy about it”.

In a conversation at the Doha Forum, Sheikh Mohammed stated there is “a lot of uncertainty” over Middle East stability. This is due to continued Israeli air strikes falling on Gaza and Lebanon despite agreed-upon ceasefires. Furthermore, Israeli attacks on Syria have further contributed to instability, as well as delaying a possible security agreement between the two nations.

The White House previously claimed the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken with Sheikh Mohammed from the Oval Office, where he issued an apology for the strike and said Israel had “no plans” to further attack Qatar.

Furthermore, following the attack, Trump signed an executive order declaring that any armed assault on Qatar would be treated as a direct threat to US national security.

“In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures – including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military – to defend the interests of the United States and of the state of Qatar, and to restore peace and stability,” the order said.

The National via Axios, Maghrebi.org