Sunday, February 1, 2015

Qatar buys up the West, but its affection for terror groups cannot be ignored…

Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with his Palestinian “friends.” (Photo credit: AP/Osama Faisal/Times of Israel)

By: Rachel Molschky

The oil-rich Arab nation of Qatar has bought about 10 percent of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), becoming the biggest shareholder of the parent company of British Airways and Spain’s Iberia. Once a British protectorate, now the independent country with a population of only 1.8 million people has been throwing its money around Europe, investing in London-based Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse (one of the most profitable banks in the world), Harrods, Porsche, Volkswagen, the Paris Saint-Germain football team, and loads of London real estate like London Bridge Quarter which includes The Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe.

Those are some expensive investments and interesting to say the least, especially for a country with such a small population. Business Insider’s Harrison Jacobs writes of Qatar’s wealth in an article called, “How Qatar Got So Rich So Fast”:

The tiny peninsula has the highest per-capita GDP in the world at $98,800 — and even that number may vastly understate the actual wealth of Qatar’s 280,000 citizens. Qatar has enough money to build a huge metropolis in the desert and to win the right to host the 2022 World Cup, allegedly through millions of dollars in bribes.

Doha in 1977 (Photo source: Business Insider, AP)

Qatar may be rich, but it is also Muslim and lives by Sharia law. Under this Islamic legal system, in family cases such as inheritance, marriage, divorce and child custody, a man’s testimony is worth more than that of a woman’s, and even non-Muslims are subjected to Sharia law in child custody battles.

Islam is so important in Qatar that memorizing the Quran will get a Muslim prisoner brownie points so he can get a reduction in his sentence.

In Qatar’s Sharia law, flogging and stoning are among its criminal punishments. A US State Department report states that, “Converting to another religion from Islam is considered apostasy and is a capital offense; however, since the country gained independence in 1971, there have been no recorded punishments for apostasy.” None “reported” yet the law exists.

Yusuf Al Qaradawi is an extremely influential Islamic scholar and Muslim Brotherhood leader based in Doha, Qatar. In the Muslim world, Al Qaradawi boasts quite an impressive resume. He’s written more than 120 books, has a popular television show with around 60 million viewers and is the founder of IslamOnline. This Islamic expert has explained the importance of criminalizing apostasy, explaining that, “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment Islam wouldn’t exist today.”

Al Qaradawi supports suicide attacks against Israelis and has made his Jew hatred quite clear, as an Islamic responsibility: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them – even though they exaggerated this issue – he managed to put them in their place.

“This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers.”

The Egyptian Al Qaradawi is highly respected in Qatar, where he lives. There are “Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi” Scholarships, there is a research center named after him called “The Qaradawi Center for Islamic Moderation and Renewal,” and naturally, he is revered in the UK, where he is a trustee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

Al Qaradawi’s television program is aired on Al Jazeera, a media network viewed globally, essentially the mainstream media for Arabs, which also has an English version. To say that Al Jazeera is influential would be an understatement. Who is behind that influence? Why the Qatari government of course! Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar, based in Doha, and funded by the Al Thani’s, the ruling family of Qatar.

The Islamic nation of Qatar also happens to be considered “the primary financier of Hamas.” This of course explains their insistence, according to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, that the terror-loving group that unabashedly promotes the killing of Jews, is actually a “humanitarian group”! Well, the Qataris said so anyway! “…We have to confer with the Qataris, who have told me over and over again that Hamas is a humanitarian organization…” the American Democrat explained.

Qatari opinion is important after all because Qatar is an ally of the US, and the American military has come to depend upon Al Udeid Air Base, which is in a strategic location for the US in the Middle East.

Doha today (Photo source: Business Insider, Sam Agnew, Flickr)

Incidentally, in addition to sinking its teeth into the European economy, Qatar has also been buying up American weaponry, billions of dollars worth.

It’s a good thing the US can “rely so heavily” on our Arab friend since Obama has entrusted five released former Guantanamo Bay detainees to Qatar- or maybe not. As it turns out, one of these five top Taliban leaders who were exchanged for Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl- (because as the Obama Administration informs us, no man will be left behind, even Army deserters)- has reportedly been back in contact with the Taliban. But how could this happen under Qatar’s “watchful eye”?

This jihadist was simply repeating the same pattern of many other released Gitmo detainees who have since joined ISIS and other terror groups on the battlefield. And Qatar? White as snow in this?
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has described Qatar as “the world’s largest funder of terror,” and the Muslim nation has ties not only to Hamas but also to Nusra Front and Al Qaeda. What’s more, Qatar has been financing the construction of mosques scattered across Europe and has taken particular interest in “helping the underprivileged” Muslim areas of France- and by now we all know how “well-integrated” French Muslims are after the Charlie Hebdo and kosher grocery store attacks as well as the attacks leading up to them.

So Qatar throws its money and influence into strategic areas in both the Muslim world and the West: the media, religious instruction and mosque construction, American weaponry, terrorism, European banking, real estate- and air travel. All this while forging key alliances. And all this from a nation with less than two million people.

Oh, it’s all smiles and handshakes while the deals are being made, but while those same smiles and handshakes are also extended to people like Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the West had better keep its own “watchful eye.”