Gaza Genocide15 September, 20263 min read
Israeli Cell Ran Secret Anti-Qatar Social Media Campaign After October 7 Attacks
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Israeli influence experts and advisers ran a secret anti-Qatar social-media campaign after Oct 7, 2023. Aimed to pressure Qatar over ties with Hamas and hostage releases.
6 outlets told this the same way.
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Secret anti-Qatar push
A report by Haaretz, cited by Al Jazeera, says a group including Israeli influence experts and political advisers ran a secret social media campaign targeting Qatar in the weeks after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks. Al Jazeera reports the campaign was launched days after the assault on southern Israel and aimed to pressure Qatar over its relationship with Hamas, with Haaretz saying participants believed international pressure could push Doha to influence Hamas to secure the release of the 251 captives taken to Gaza on October 7.
Haaretz also reported that about 30 people were recruited, including psychological warfare experts, and that a WhatsApp group called Free the Kidnapped was established several days after October 7. Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that it was “unlikely such a campaign would exist without the motivation of an actor like Israel,” while Haaretz said the identities of those who initiated the operation “are barred from publication.”
Israeli officials, outlets
Haaretz’s account, as presented by Al Jazeera, describes the effort as a “civilian initiative” that sought to build international pressure on Qatar, and it says the campaign was abruptly halted without explanation after about a month. Al Jazeera reports that one member of the anti-Qatar WhatsApp group asked, “Do we know how much Qatar gives Hamas every year or some other monetary figure that we can hammer home?” and another responded, “Qatar-ISIS Ltd”.
The Al Jazeera report also says the slogan “Hamas is ISIS” was used on the campaign’s website and Facebook profile, and it adds that participants raised donations, produced videos, contacted journalists and organised media appearances. In Haaretz’s own framing, the campaign is described as an Israeli operation launched right after the October 7 attack to pressure Qatar to force Hamas to release the hostages, with the Haaretz page noting it was “abruptly halted without explanation.”
Gaza war backdrop
The anti-Qatar campaign story appears alongside Al Jazeera’s description of the Gaza war’s scale, saying that since October Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza and injured nearly 4,700. Al Jazeera further states that in total, Israel has killed more than 73,700 people since October 2023, when it launched its genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.
Qatar is described by Al Jazeera as repeatedly denying allegations that it funds Hamas, with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani saying, “All our aid, financing, and all our support … went to the people in Gaza, and was a very transparent process that the United States is very aware of … [and] Israel was the one facilitating,” while Al Jazeera reports Doha has hosted Hamas’s political office since 2012 after a request from the United States. Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera the story reveals an “extraordinary contradiction at the heart of Israel’s relationship with Qatar,” saying Israel has presented Qatar as an enabler of Hamas while relying on Doha for access to Hamas and other actors Israel cannot reach directly.