“Morally, Israelis must not have ties with Qatar,” Diaspora and Fight Against Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli said Wednesday morning. “Qatar is a rotten enemy state. The strike in Doha marked it as a political terror tunnel that shelters senior Hamas figures. The strike generated huge discussion worldwide and that matters a lot in the arena of perception,” the minister said in an interview with Ynet’s studio.
“Hamas did not disappear," Chikli continued. "It’s important to understand. Its main command is moving to Turkey and its state arm is Qatar. There is a new axis of evil here: Turkey, Qatar and Syria. There is also a diplomatic campaign and the Qataris are trying hard to act against us in international public opinion. We must act on that arena as well. My position on Qatar was very sharp and very clear even before the war with Hamas and long before all sorts of scandals. I understand people want to make money, but I think, morally and ethically, Israelis must not have ties with Qatar. That includes everyone.”
He accused Qatar of acting against Israel and Jews in the Diaspora “in unexpected ways," adding: “Tucker Carlson, for example, is a prominent influencer in the U.S. and I think the Qataris bought him. He used to speak out against radical Islam and today he claims Hamas is just a political organization. Today he is antisemitic, he hates Israel and he accuses us of assassinating Charlie Kirk.
"There are many such conspiracies: the Holocaust against Christians, the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. But it’s much more than influencers. The Qataris bought half of London, they bought UEFA, they bought politicians in the European Parliament and politicians in the U.S.”
On the growing calls to recognize a Palestinian state and to impose sanctions on Israel, he said: “We see who is leading the move and we need to shine a spotlight on what’s called the bright side of life. (Emmanuel) Macron and (Keir) Starmer, the prime ministers of France and Britain, are promoting international moves, but their governments are falling apart. Macron’s government collapsed and in London we see enormous protests, a million people in the streets. Labour is at a low not seen in decades. Conservative forces are more sympathetic to Israel and they’re gaining momentum.”
The minister also addressed rising antisemitism in Europe and invited world Jewry to come to Israel.
“Britain and France still have a chance to improve, the Conservative Party in Britain is more supportive than Labour and similar forces are strengthening in France, but in Belgium there is no chance. It is no longer worthy to live there as a Jew, it is very dangerous, that country is finished. I’ll put it this way: every Jew who lives in Belgium should leave. We must gather our diasporas. We are Zionists and we would be very happy for them to come to the Land of Israel. There’s nothing to be done, there are countries where the state of the Jewish community is dire.
“This is the situation when there is such a large migration of Islamists who do not come to integrate into society but with the intent to take it over. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps the most influential cleric for the Muslim Brotherhood in recent decades, said Europe will not be conquered by war, it will be conquered by migration. That plan is taking shape before our eyes,” he said.
He also criticized the Ophir Awards-winning film "The Sea," which centers on a Palestinian boy from Ramalla, and Israel’s decision to send it as the country’s Oscar entry. "People sell their souls to the devil to be embraced at some international festival," he charged. "This is a deep cultural betrayal. It is a turning of the back on your own people. I think we deserve better culturally. There are enough stories from the Gaza border, the Lebanon border, enough stories of our hostages that could have represented us at the Oscars.”