President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed efforts by the leader of Kuwait, a staunch American ally, to mediate a festering diplomatic crisis involving Qatar and its Arab neighbors that could have implications for the U.S. military presence in the region.
The Gulf state of Qatar — long-shunned by the pro-Israel community in the US for its overt financial and political backing of the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas — has announced a new public relations initiative to win hearts and minds among Jews in the US and abroad.
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia which all Muslims are encouraged to undertake at least once in their lifetimes. This year’s Hajj season comes amid several major domestic and international challenges for the Saudis.
UAE reacts furiously to Qatar’s restoring diplomatic relations with Iran; As Hajj approaches, Iran and Qatar remain in dispute with Saudi Arabia
The Qatar Foundation has been funding U.S. K-12 public schools, seeking to ramp up their Arabic language and cultural curricula with an eye toward globalization.
Qatar has fully rekindled its diplomatic relationship with state sponsor of terrorism Iran, disregarding the demands of U.S.-backed Arab countries that have severed ties with Doha to isolate it over its alleged links to the Islamic Republic and various jihadist groups.
Qatar on Monday denied it had banned Saudi Arabian flights from landing in the emirate to transport Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, after an accusation by authorities in Riyadh.
The diplomatic crisis between Qatar and neighboring Gulf states took an ominous turn this week, as Saudi Arabia began circulating a video that it explains it could legally shoot down Qatari passenger planes that violate its airspace. The video includes computer animation of what such a missile attack would look like.
The efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to officially label the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) a foreign terrorist organization has earned the support of various Arab allies of the United States, Fox News has learned.
Contents: Israel announces that it will ban al-Jazeera in Israel; Al-Jazeera gives bitter, angry response to Israel’s move; BBC vs Al-Jazeera: Which is more biased?
TEL AVIV — Arab social media users have been divided regarding Israel’s announcement that it intends to close the offices of Qatari television station Al Jazeera while accusing the network of incitement to violence.
TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday praised Communications Minister Ayoub Kara for taking concrete steps to “stop incitement” with a decision to permanently shutter Qatari-based news channel Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau.
Contents: China further escalates the rhetoric threatening India over Doklam Plateau; China attempts to justify its claim to the Doklam Plateau
Turkey has begun a modest and long-planned, but perhaps politically significant, joint military exercise with Qatar, the Gulf state shunned by several of its Sunni Muslim neighbors in a bitter diplomatic dispute.
TEL AVIV — The crisis between Qatar and Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia deteriorated further in the last few days due to Saudi reports that Qatar is appealing to the international community for internationalized access to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia for the season of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca and other holy places, considered a requirement in the lives of all Muslims.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister called what he said was Qatar’s demand for an internationalization of the Muslim hajj pilgrimage a declaration of war against the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said on Sunday, but Qatar said it never made such a call.
The Trump Administration still hasn’t designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as it was expected to do.
Qatar refuses to bow to Saudi-led demands to “outsource” its foreign policy to resolve the Gulf crisis, its government spokesman told AFP in an interview.
The Al Jazeera network on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hostile” call to close its Israel bureau, dismissing Israel’s allegations of incitement to violence.
Contents: Israel braces for new ‘day of rage’ at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday; Palestinian leaders incite protests and violence in Jerusalem and West Bank
Contents: Kuwait expels Iran’s diplomats after ‘Abdali terror cell’ ruling; Iran says that it’s open to ‘dialog’ with Saudi Arabia over Qatar crisis; Saudi-led coalition replaces its 13 demands with 6 principles
A central part of President Donald Trump’s winning campaign platform last year was that American interests and – this is key – Americans’ interests should be the foundation of U.S. policymaking. The America First message resonated with American voters who had felt during previous administrations that America’s interests were a mere afterthought in the policy sphere. Trump voiced the right message, at the right time, and he won because of it.
The Palestinian terror movement Hamas, which has been trying to relocate senior officials who were asked to leave Qatar, has asked Algerian authorities for permission to open an office there, the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday.
The United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of a Qatari government news site in May, planting a false story that was used as a pretext for the current crisis between Qatar and several Arab countries, according to a Sunday report by The Washington Post.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson returned home from an extended trip to the Middle East on Friday, expressing a mixture of optimism that Qatar and the other Gulf states are finally willing to talk to each other and pessimism that they have anything meaningful to talk about.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spent Tuesday in Qatar after holding meetings in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis. As of yet, there has been little sign of progress from Tillerson’s extended mission to the Middle East, although the Saudi royal family thanked him for his efforts.
The U.S. and Qatar signed an agreement Tuesday to crack down on the financing of terrorism. The agreement was signed as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson looks to resolve a crisis in the Persian Gulf between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the key mediator between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, arrived Monday in Kuwait, for talks aimed at defusing the Gulf’s worst crisis in years.
As the U.S. takes the lead role in solving the Gulf crisis, Saudi Arabia is keeping the United Nations at arm’s length, with sources telling Breitbart News that the Saudis told one of the body’s top officials not to travel to the country as he sought to mediate a solution to the conflict.
The extended deadline for Qatar to meet a list of 13 demands imposed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and other neighboring states passed on Tuesday, without any sign of compliance from the embattled emirate. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accordingly announced on Wednesday that the boycott will remain in place.
Four Arab nations seeking to isolate Qatar for its alleged support for terrorism issued a statement Wednesday saying that Doha’s response to their demands to end the crisis was “not serious.”
Contents: Saudi Arabia extends sanctions deadline for two days; Saudi Arabia and UAE threaten Qatar with additional sanctions; North Korea launches another ballistic missile
The nonprofit Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is calling on international companies and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to repudiate any business dealings with the Qatari government, arguing that the Gulf country willingly shelters Islamic terrorists and funds jihadist organizations.
TEL AVIV — The crisis between Qatar and the Gulf countries continues to be the topic of conversation for citizens of the Gulf.
One of the most wanted Palestinian terrorists, believed by Israeli intelligence to have planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in the summer of 2014, has moved to Lebanon after being expelled last month from Qatar.
Iran on Monday signed a $5 billion agreement with France’s Total SA and a Chinese oil company to develop its massive offshore natural gas field, the first such deal with foreign companies since the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
President Donald Trump has injected unpredictability into U.S. foreign policy that has unnerved the establishment — but is now bearing some fruit.
US President Donald Trump spoke separately with several leaders of nations in the Persian Gulf region and addressed ongoing disputes between Qatar and some of its Arab neighbors, as Gulf states that levied a de facto blockade on Doha extended a deadline on answering demands by two days.
Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey are supporting terrorism in war-ravaged Libya, considered a breeding ground for jihadists, according to a spokesman for the Libyan army.
TEL AVIV – Following Tuesday’s strikes from Israel’s Air Force into Gaza in response to rocket fire, the Gulf press has come out in an attack of Hamas and said the nations supporting it were using Palestinian lives in as pawns to divert attention from their own countries.
