BY Doug McKinlay, Photo-journalist
IN the ongoing blockade of Qatar by the Gulf States, confusion reigns about the allegations brought against Qatar. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Russia Omar Saif Ghobash has insisted the Gulf states had a “wealth of evidence” to support their claims that Qatar is funding terrorism.
“We have further evidence, much more evidence than we’ve presented so far. There are more names, more organisations, more documentary evidence, more recordings that demonstrate links between the Qatari government and different organisations,” he warned.
However, neither the UAE nor any of the Gulf states behind the rift seem able to produce this proof. Not only that, the little that has been released to date has been discredited. A fact-sheet, Qatar’s History of Funding Terrorism and Extremism, posted on the Saudi Embassy website was described this week as “error-riddled” by David A Weinberg, of US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
With Qatar pushing back today against a list of onerous demands set by its opponents, this crucial failure to produce anything concrete is significant, not least because almost the entire case for the diplomatic and trade embargo against Qatar hinges on the allegations.
“The implications of that evidence will be very serious,” says Mr Ghobash. Unfortunately, in present conditions, his promises are beginning to look like hot air.
The United States has certainly noticed. “We are mystified that the Gulf states have not released to the public, nor to the Qataris, the details about the claims that they are making toward Qatar,” said US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, “ The more time goes by, the more doubt is raised.”
Meanwhile, as accusations and counter-accusations continue to fly, the claims being made against Qatar risk backfiring on Saudi Arabia.
Today, the UK foreign affairs think tank Henry Jackson Society labelled Saudi Arabia – not Qatar – as the chief foreign promoter of Islamic extremism in the UK. It claimed a “clear and growing link” can be drawn between overseas money, which mainly comes from Saudi Arabia, and the recent attacks in the UK and Europe.
The UK’s Saudi Arabian embassy has dismissed the claims as “categorically false”, but at the very least, the report puts Prime Minister Theresa May under pressure to announce a public inquiry into the findings. For its part, Qatar has denied funding extremists, and has suggested that it will accept independent monitoring – but only if Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours do the same.
The real story, of course, is that the diplomatic and trade embargo is less about tackling global terrorism, and a great deal to do with attempting to cripple a troublesome neighbour. As one of Mr Weinberg’s Twitter followers commented, ‘Saudi Arabia has an image problem, it can’t rectify it, it can only blame Qatar to look better.” However, the lack of evidence to justify the embargo against Qatar could now give President Trump the opportunity he needs to resolve the crisis. Certainly, he will be looking to face-save after initially jumping on the Gulf states bandwagon to condemn Qatar, while seemingly forgetting that the US has its largest foreign airbase in Doha.
We should all be willing to listen to the facts. However, while Qatar’s opponents dither over the evidence, Mr Trump can show he’s not taking sides and commit to preventing the financing of all terrorism, regardless of where it comes from. If further damage is to be averted, it’s also time for the Gulf states to stop playing a game of tit-for-tat and start working on a resolution.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here