Netanyahu's gamble on putting Qatar might have failed, however he isn't backing down

[ad_1] When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered this week’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, he took a serious gamble in his marketing campaign to pound the phobia group into submission.

With indicators rising that the mission failed, that gamble seems to have backfired.

Netanyahu had hoped to kill Hamas’ senior exiled leaders to get nearer to his imaginative and prescient of “whole victory” towards the phobia group that carried out the brutal bloodbath of 1,200 folks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and stress it into surrendering after almost two years of conflict within the Gaza Strip.

As an alternative, Hamas claims its leaders survived, and Netanyahu’s international standing — already badly broken by the scenes of destruction and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, as Israel tries to destroy Hamas and get again 48 hostages held there — took one other hit.

The airstrike on Tuesday has enraged Qatar, an influential US ally that has been a key mediator all through the conflict, and drawn heavy criticism throughout the Arab world. It additionally has strained relations with the White Home and thrown hopes of reaching a ceasefire into disarray, probably endangering the 20 hostages nonetheless believed to be alive.

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By signing up, you comply with the terms However whereas the strike marks a setback for Netanyahu, he exhibits no signal of backing down or halting the conflict. And along with his hard-line coalition nonetheless firmly behind him, Netanyahu faces no fast menace to his rule.

Harm is seen after an Israeli strike focused a compound that hosted Hamas’ political management in Doha, Qatar on September 10, 2025 (AFP)

Netanyahu’s hope for an ‘picture of victory’ for his authorities 5 low-level Hamas members and a Qatari safety guard have been killed within the strike.

However Hamas has mentioned the meant goal, senior exiled leaders assembly to debate a brand new US ceasefire proposal, all survived. The fear group, nonetheless, has not launched any pictures of the leaders, and Qatar has not commented on their circumstances.

A composite picture of 5 members of Hamas’s management focused by Israel in Qatar on September 9, 2025, L-R: Zaher Jabarin, Khaled Mashaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Muhammad Ismail Darwish, Nizar Awadallah. (Mahmud Hams/Louai Beshara/KHAMENEI.IR/AFP)

If the airstrike had killed the highest management, the assault may have supplied Netanyahu a chance to declare Hamas’ destruction, mentioned Harel Chorev, an knowledgeable on Arab affairs at Tel Aviv College.

“It’s all very symbolic and it’s positively a part of the factor which permits Netanyahu at a sure level to say ‘We gained, we killed all of them,'” he mentioned.

Israel’s fierce 23-month offensive in Gaza has worn out all of Hamas’ prime management contained in the territory. However Netanyahu has got down to eradicate the phobia group as a part of his purpose of “whole victory.”

That's now trying more and more unlikely, making it even more durable for Netanyahu to push a ceasefire by way of his hard-line coalition.

Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition have cornered Netanyahu, threatening to topple his authorities until Israel pushes forward with an expanded operation in Gaza Metropolis, regardless of critical misgivings by many within the army management and widespread opposition amongst Israel’s public.

A profitable operation in Qatar may have allowed Netanyahu to placate the hard-liners, although it might have eradicated the very officers chargeable for negotiating a potential ceasefire.

Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli army strike on a constructing in Gaza Metropolis, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Picture/Yousef Al Zanoun)

Burning the channel with Qatar Israel may goal Hamas leaders in Doha from the beginning of the conflict, however didn't wish to antagonize the Qataris whereas negotiations befell, Chorev mentioned.

Qatar has helped negotiate two earlier ceasefires which have launched 148 hostages, together with eight our bodies, in trade for 1000's of Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s army has rescued simply eight hostages alive and retrieved the our bodies of 51 hostages.

Whereas Israel has complained that Qatar was not placing stress on Hamas, it had continued to depart that channel open — till Tuesday.

“Israel, by the assault, notified the entire world that it gave up on the negotiations,” Chorev mentioned. “They’ve determined to burn the channel with Qatar.”

A large banner calling for the US president to push a hostage deal in Gaza, unfurled at Hostage’s Sq. in Tel Aviv on September 6, 2025. (OM/Hostages Households Discussion board)

Requested if ceasefire talks would proceed, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani mentioned that after the strike, “I don’t suppose there’s something legitimate” within the present talks. However he didn't elaborate and stopped in need of saying Qatar would finish its mediation efforts.

How Netanyahu hopes to win the discharge of the remaining hostages stays unclear.

On Thursday, Thani accused Israel of abandoning the hostages.

“Extremists that rule Israel at the moment don't care concerning the hostages — in any other case, how can we justify the timing of this assault?” he instructed the UN Safety Council.

Nonetheless, he mentioned his nation was able to resume its mediation with out giving any indication of subsequent steps. On Friday, he met in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was scheduled to go to Israel this weekend in an indication of how the Trump administration is attempting to stability relations between key Center East allies.

From L-R: Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, US Vice President JD Vance, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in Washington, DC, September 13, 2025. (Qatar’s International Ministry/X)

Straining ties with the US Netanyahu, who has acquired ironclad help from the US since President Donald Trump returned to workplace, seems to have strained ties along with his most essential ally.

Trump mentioned he was “very sad” concerning the airstrike and warranted the Qataris such an assault wouldn't occur once more.

Trump, nonetheless, has not mentioned whether or not he would take any punitive motion towards Israel or indicated that he'll stress Netanyahu to halt the conflict.

US President Donald Trump (L) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) on the Blue Room of the White Home in Washington, DC, on July 7, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Netanyahu, within the meantime, stays undeterred and has threatened extra motion if Qatar continues to host the Hamas management.

The message to Hamas is obvious, he mentioned Thursday: “There isn't any place the place we can not attain you.”

Little affect on the conflict in Gaza Israel is urgent forward with its expanded offensive geared toward conquering Gaza Metropolis. The army has urged a full evacuation of the realm holding round 1 million folks forward of an anticipated invasion.

“Netanyahu’s authorities is adamant to go on with the army operation in Gaza,” mentioned Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew College in Jerusalem.

IDF troops within the thirty sixth Division function within the Gaza Strip, in a picture revealed on September 11, 2025. (Israel Protection Forces)

Israel has dismissed calls to halt the conflict from the United Nations, the European Union, and a rising variety of main Western nations that plan to acknowledge a Palestinian state on the UN Safety Council later this month, she mentioned.

The one one who would possibly be capable of change this trajectory is Trump, she added, by telling Israel “sufficient is sufficient.”

Netanyahu’s political future unthreatened If Hamas’ leaders survive, and the negotiations collapse, Netanyahu will additional alienate the over two-thirds of the Israeli public who need an finish to the conflict and a deal to deliver residence the hostages.

However that opposition has been in place for months, with little affect on Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu’s future within the close to time period doesn’t rely on the Israeli public,” mentioned Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem suppose tank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cupboard assembly in Jerusalem on September 7, 2025. (GPO/screenshot)

As an alternative, his political survival will depend on his governing coalition, a lot of whom have expressed wholehearted help for the assassination try.

This has sparked panic and extra struggling for the households of the hostages nonetheless held in Gaza.

Einav Zangauker, whose son, Matan , is among the many captives, mentioned this week she was “shaking with worry” after listening to about Israel’s assault in Doha.

“Why does the prime minister insist on blowing up each probability for a deal?” she requested, on the verge of tears. “Why?”

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