As the international community tries to make sense of Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, President Sheikh Mohamed arrived in the Qatari capital to offer the UAE's complete support. The messages of support from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries not only highlight the recklessness of bombing a residential area of a Gulf capital in broad daylight, they also reinforce the solidarity displayed by many Arab states in times of collective crisis.
In contrast, supporters of Israel once defended its pugnacious approach by claiming the country lived in a “tough neighbourhood”. Following Israel’s latest act of violence against an Arab state, that justification not only fails to convince, it also inverts reality. The truth is that the Israeli government has become the source of greatest instability.
The “tough neighbourhood” proponents try to portray Israel as a vulnerable state, alone in a sea of enemies. By doing so, they avoid the facts.
Two of the country’s immediate Arab neighbours – Egypt and Jordan – have maintained peace treaties with Israel for decades, even in some very trying circumstances. Five years ago, the UAE and Bahrain – later joined by Morocco and Sudan – took the decisive step of agreeing to establish ties with Israel. Since 2002, the Arab Peace Initiative has promised that the Arab League’s 22 members would recognise Israel in return for a just settlement with Palestinians. Less than two months ago, Arab League states taking part in a UN conference on a two-state solution reiterated their support for this peace plan.
The Israeli response thus far has been the destruction of Gaza, moves to further settle and ultimately annex the occupied West Bank, not-so-veiled threats to build a so-called Greater Israel and repeated bombing runs and assassinations in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and now Qatar. This begs the question: what more can Arab states do when confronted by the neighbourhood’s most aggressive resident?
A reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that Israel’s leadership does not want peace. Instead, by seeking to impose its will on the region, it wants victory. Such a vision is a mirage. Long-term security and a stable place in the Middle East cannot be built by bombing the capital of a Gulf nation in broad daylight thereby antagonising entire populations, undermining those voices that call for peace and drawing neighbours closer together in the face of a common threat.
Just a day before the Doha attack, regional players were warning that efforts to chart a course forward based on diplomacy and engagement were under threat. Addressing the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, Lana Nusseibeh, who was this week appointed as a Minister of State, said that the Hamas-led attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war on Gaza, had “exploded the risk of radicalisation and instability in the region”.
By bombing the capital of a Gulf nation so committed to negotiation efforts, Israel’s leadership has crossed a line. It is unclear if this has sunk in with those directing the country’s current policy of regional belligerence. Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s leadership and to an extent its population have been in the grip of dangerous solipsism, whereby good-faith counsel is ignored and only their views count.
Unless Israel breaks free of such hypnotic self-talk, its lashing out in all directions ensures only that it will never truly find its place in this region. When there are no more bridges left to burn, perhaps then cooler heads will prevail but until that time, Israel’s neighbours are asking what can be done to convince Israel of the need for peace.
