End the love affair

Oron Shaul’s brother: Contacts with Qatar harm his freedom

More than three years ago, my brother, Oron Shaul, an IDF soldier, went to protect the Jewish people and battle Hamas terrorists in Gaza. He did not return. During these years, not only have we been unable see Oron, my family and I don’t even know what happened to him.

Hamas has not only refused to release my brother, but has cruelly neglected confirm his fate to our family, denying us the most fundamental human right.

My brother was kidnapped fighting a brutal enemy that has for three decades waged a war of blood and terror against the Jewish people. Hamas’ very charter calls for the genocide of the Jewish people “wheresoever they are found.” They have murdered hundreds of Israel’s civilians with nearly 20,000 rockets, dozens of suicide bombings, and terrorist-infiltration tunnels. Who paid for all this? For the most part, it’s been Qatar. In past years, Qatar has risen as Hamas’ key ally and single largest donor, committing over a billion dollars to the terrorist group and paying out hundreds of millions of so far. In the words of the late Shimon Peres, Qatar represents “the world’s largest funder of terror.”

Ironically, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has launched a recent offensive to buy off American Jewry to support his regime.

A few months ago, he hired a Jewish-owned lobbying firm to represent his interests in the United States and among the Jewish community. His cynical investments now seem to have paid off. Qatari officials have attended leading Jewish events in New York, and reports now indicate that the emir himself may have presided over a wedding held by a powerful Jewish institutional figures. Jewish leaders from the US have recently visited Doha as the emir’s guests.

This love affair must come to an end. As the brother of a man kidnapped and still held with Qatari funding, I demand that the Emirate’s overtures be rejected.

We cannot provide Qatar with diplomatic cover until its outward overtures are matched by real inner change. Qatar must cease its funding of Hamas and repudiate its genocidal message. They must cease the antisemitic onslaught wrought upon Israel by their state funded Al-Jazeerah news network. And, most meaningfully to me, they must ensure that Hamas finally adhere to international law and the essential human code by reuniting my family.

As the leaders of American Jewry, you must show Qatar that your moral core is not for sale.