Washington, DC – Hours after United States President Donald Trump promised that Israel would not attack Qatar again, the Israeli ambassador to the US suggested that his country could repeat its attempt to kill Hamas officials within the Gulf country.
Speaking to Fox News late on Tuesday, Yechiel Leiter said if Hamas leaders had survived the Doha bombardment, Israel would target them again.
“If we didn’t get them this time, we’ll get them the next time,” the Israeli envoy said.
Israel launched air attacks in Doha targeting a Hamas delegation that was meeting to discuss Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal on Tuesday.
But Hamas said its top leaders – including its Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya – survived the assassination attempt, which killed six people, including a Qatari security officer.
Countries across the world, including some of Israel’s Western allies, condemned the attack.
The Israeli air raids appear to have violated several provisions of international law, including the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on aggression against sovereign states.
Qatar described the strikes as “state terrorism” and called for a regional response against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani accused Netanyahu of undermining regional stability and peace in pursuit of “narcissistic delusions” and personal gains.
“Working to violate the sovereignty of nations without any care must not be overlooked and must be confronted by all means,” he said.
Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, also expressed misgivings with the attack, but stopped short of publicly condemning it.
“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” he wrote in a social media post.
Qatar is a major non-NATO ally of the US, and it has helped mediate several international agreements involving Washington. The Gulf country also hosts one of the largest US military bases in the region.
The US president added on Tuesday that he spoke to Qatar’s emir and prime minister and “assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil”.
But Leiter dismissed the US and international concerns, saying that Israel – which attacked at least five Arab countries over the past month – is changing the region “for the better” and working to “defeat Islamic extremism”.
“Right now, we may be subject to a little bit of criticism. They’ll get over it,” he said.
Israel receives billions of dollars in US military aid annually.
