Protesters gathered outside the Qatari embassy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to try to increase pressure on the Gulf state’s government to work toward the release of the 130-some hostages remaining in Hamas’s captivity.
The demonstration, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, or JCRC, is the first in the area to explicitly focus on Qatar’s role as a mediator in hostage negotiations, a tack groups like the American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League have not yet taken.
It featured speeches from activists, rabbis, and two elected officials, and the event closed with the crowd — about 150 or 200 people — joining together for a rendition of “Am Yisrael Chai” led by a cantor from a local synagogue. Those in attendance held posters of hostages still in Gaza and signs bearing slogans like “bring them home” and “Jewish lives matter too.”
JCRC executive director Ron Halber told National Review that, though he recognizes that Qatar has played a role in facilitating the release of nearly half of those Hamas abducted on October 7, there is still work to be done.
“There’s a combination here today of appreciation and frustration,” Halber said. “On one hand, we’re grateful to the Qataris for their role in freeing the previous 100 hostages, but there are 130 people who remain in captivity, and nothing has happened in a month; the hostages are in the hands of this monstrous terrorist group.”
The mix of appreciation and frustration Halber spoke about was palpable in the remarks of the two elected officials who attended Wednesday’s protest, representatives Glenn Ivey (D., Md.) and Jamie Raskin (D., Md.). Both focused on the necessity of bringing the remaining hostages home while refraining from forcefully criticizing the Qatari government for sheltering Hamas leaders, financing terror, and disseminating anti-Israel propaganda through state-associated media.
Halber told National Review that it is important to recognize that there are very few people with leverage over the situation.
“There are only two actors that truly have influence over Hamas: Iran — which is certainly not going to help us — and Qatar, which is a major financier of theirs, hosts their political leadership, and funds Al Jazeera, which is basically a Hamas PR effort,” he said. “So, while we appreciate what they’ve done, it’s not enough. They will have done enough when all the hostages are home.”
An audio recording leaked Tuesday captured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling families of Hamas hostages that Qatar’s role as a mediator between Israel’s government and the terrorist organization is “problematic,” saying that the families “need to speak to the hearts of the international community to apply pressure on those who can apply pressure.”
Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed that it is impossible to trust the Qatari government to negotiate for the release of the hostages in good faith.
“Qatar is a chief Hamas ally, sponsor, and host. It is anything but a neutral third party here,” he told National Review. “This is like having the Swiss bankers to the Nazis negotiate on our behalf with Hitler. Their entire strategy is designed to help Hamas, not the hostages.”
Netanyahu mentioned in the meeting that he became “very angry recently with the Americans” over the United States’ renewal of an agreement to extend its military presence at a Qatari base for another ten years. The U.S., he argued, has the ability to use its military relationship with Qatar to push for additional hostage releases.
Halber agreed with that assessment.
“They’re a major non-NATO ally of the United States receiving economic, political and military support,” he said, “and we as American citizens expect them to move faster, quicker, and more relentlessly to meet the American national objective of freeing all the Americans and all the Israelis and everybody else who’s been held hostage in Gaza.”
The Qatari government itself recently threw a wrench in prospects of further cooperation. In response to a Sunday Fox News story alleging that Qatar engaged in an espionage campaign against Republican lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who have supported measures to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, the Qatari embassy in the U.S. released a strongly-worded statement.
Statement from the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/thbsnp20Uc
— Qatar Embassy USA (@QatarEmbassyUSA) January 21, 2024
“At this critical moment for our region,” the statement reads, “it is of great concern that attempts are being made to spread false narratives that could not only lead to more anger and hatred in the region and around the world, but also potentially affect the sensitive and ongoing efforts to bring hostages back to their families.”
Discussing Qatar’s apparent use of the hostages as a cudgel against unfavorable reporting, Halber told National Review that he thinks doing so would be a miscalculation.
“If Qatar is threatening to use their efforts to free American and Israeli hostages as blackmail against the United States, I recommend they stop,” he said. “They need the United States and they should be careful with their words.”
Halber turned his focus to pressuring the Qatari government, stressing the emotional conditions Israelis, the broader Jewish community, and Americans connected to the hostages have lived through, as well as the suffering of those Hamas abducted.
“I think that the Qataris have the ability to crack a whip against Hamas that nobody else has, and it is time that they crack that whip and bring these people home,” he said. “Imagine if one of your relatives was being held captive by the people who committed those atrocities on October 7. The fact that Israel has to prepare medical units for women who were raped and sexually assaulted to come home possibly pregnant with their captors’ children is beyond imagination.”
“Every day seems like a million years for the Israelis and the Jewish community,” Halber said, “and we will not stop our advocacy anywhere, outside any embassy or any institution, until every single one of those people is at home with their loved ones.”