Qatar probes ‘shameful’ hacking as rifts reopen
Fake remarks expose Gulf tensions Outrage in UAE, Saudi media
DOHA: Qatar launched an investigation and went into damage control mode yesterday after accusing hackers of putting what it called false remarks by the emir on state media. The four-hour cyber attack, which hit the Qatar News Agency’s website and Twitter account, caused ripples in the Gulf state and across the Middle East because of the content of the stories. Among the topics supposedly addressed by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani were the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, strategic relations with Iran, expressing understanding about Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and suggesting US President Donald Trump might not last long in power.
There were also remarks about alleged “tensions” between Qatar and the Trump administration. The Twitter account carried a statement from Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani about Qatar withdrawing its ambassadors from several nearby countries. His ministry denied the story. Qatar said what occurred was a “shameful cybercrime” and that the reports were completely untrue. It added an investigation had been launched and the hackers would be “traced and prosecuted”.
“QNA’s website was hacked at 12:14 am on Wednesday morning, with hackers publishing false statements attributed to HH the Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani,” said the foreign ministry. “The official further said that it is clear this shameful cybercrime was instigated and perpetrated with malicious intent,” it said in a statement.
The fake articles quoted Qatar emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani as calling Iran an “Islamic power” and saying Qatar’s relations with Israel were “good” during a military ceremony.
The Qatari state television’s nightly newscast on Tuesday showed clips of Sheikh Tamim at the ceremony with the anchor not mentioning the comments, though a scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen had the alleged fake remarks. They included calling Hamas “the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” as well as saying Qatar had “strong relations” with Iran and the United States. “Iran represents a regional and Islamic power that cannot be ignored and it is unwise to face up against it,” the ticker read at one point. “It is a big power in the stabilization of the region.”
The hackers also purportedly took over the news agency’s Twitter feed and posted alleged quotes from Qatar’s foreign minister alleging a plot against the country by other Arab nations. It said the small, gas-rich nation had ordered its ambassadors from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates withdrawn over the plot. The tweets were later deleted. Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani, the director of the Qatar’s government communications office, issued a statement saying authorities had launched an investigation. “The statement published has no basis whatsoever and the competent authorities in the state of Qatar will hold all those (who) committed (this) accountable,” Sheikh Saif said. The statement did not explain how the remarks made it on state television.
But Qatar was unable to contain the fallout, with media outlets taking seriously the remarks attributed to the emir and attacks on social media accounts continuing. The “false statement” was still being widely reported by broadcasters and newspapers across the region, including in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, many hours after Doha’s denial.
One analyst on the Saudi state news channel, Al-Akhbariya, called Tamim’s alleged remarks “political adolescence”. Twitter users swapped insults and accusations. Saudi media slammed the alleged statement describing Shiite-dominated Iran as a “stability guarantor” in the region. A page on the Al-Arabiya English website had an article entitled: “Proof that Qatar News Agency was not hacked.” Saudi Arabia’s Okaz daily thundered: “Qatar splits the rank, sides with the enemies of the nation.” Riyadh’s Arab News said the comments sparked “outrage” among other Gulf states.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) blocked the main website of Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, which Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have often seen as being critical of their governments. Al Jazeera says it is an independent news service giving a voice to everyone in the region. Qatar said it was “surprised by the stance of some media outlets and TV channels” in continuing to report the comments attributed to the emir. Some in Qatar compared those responsible for reporting the contents of the hack to Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
The alleged cyber attack comes just days after Doha claimed it had been the victim of an orchestrated smear campaign over its alleged “support” for terrorism, and said it was being targeted by anti-Qatar organizations. One of those pieces, suggesting Qatar in 2006 may have let go a Qatari man who became an Al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, came from David A Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “The swift Saudi-Emirati response makes me think they were fishing for a confrontation or this is a convenient pretense ... to address the things already bothering them,” Weinberg said. “Qatar likes to write this off as a campaign based on lies and ulterior motives, but if Qatar didn’t has the sort of problematic record it has, it wouldn’t be the target for this.”
Doha has faced criticism for its support of rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and in recent weeks has been accused outright of funding terror in US media articles. Qatar is also home to the former leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, who this month used his Doha base, where he has lived in exile for several years, to launch a new policy document. One analyst, Durham University’s Dr Christopher Davidson, said the incident emphasized long-standing divisions between Qatar and other Gulf powers such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, over issues including Doha’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood. “This is still part of the serious fracture between the two different camps in the Gulf, the divisions remain about the vision for the region,” he said. — Agencies