DOMINANT ANGLE
Doha categorically rejects Netanyahu's accusation that Qatar is funding a campaign of "lies" against Israel, seeing it as an attempt to find a scapegoat.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Netanyahu's accusation that Doha would spend "billions" to spread "lies" against Israel has been "categorically rejected".
- 02
Qatari spokesman Majed Al Ansari denounced an attempt to "divert attention from atrocities" committed in the occupied Palestinian territories.
- 03
More than 100 protesters, including actress Susan Sarandon, were arrested near UN headquarters in New York during Netanyahu's speech.
ANALYSIS
Doha, September 25, 2026. Qatar has "categorically rejected" the accusations made on Thursday by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly, where he claimed that Doha spent "billions" to spread "lies" about Israel. In a message posted on X, Majed Al Ansari, advisor to the Qatari Prime Minister and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denounced a "search for a scapegoat": "This ongoing rhetoric against Qatar is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the atrocities committed by its government in the occupied Palestinian territories and their serious humanitarian consequences."
Al Ansari recalled the mediating role played by Doha between Israel and Hamas, praised by the international community, particularly in the negotiation of the ceasefire and the agreement on the release of captives concluded in 2025 — a role that the Israeli accusation, according to him, ignores. The spokesperson also noted that Israeli officials "are increasingly finding themselves speaking to empty rooms", adding that if Israel wanted to be perceived differently, it should "start by changing its policies, stop its violations of international law and respect it".
The empty seat of the Qatari delegation was part of a larger movement: dozens of delegations left the room when Netanyahu took the floor, at the call of the Palestinian mission to the UN. In front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, police arrested over a hundred protesters, including Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, actress Hannah Einbinder, a Democratic candidate for Congress, and a member of the New York City Council.
For Doha, this sequence confirms the growing isolation of the Israeli leader on the international stage, a year after Qatar established itself as one of the few interlocutors capable of bringing about negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The Qatari government, already targeted by Netanyahu for its humanitarian support to Gaza and its ties with Hamas, sees this as a new attempt to delegitimize its diplomatic role just a few weeks before the Israeli legislative elections.
