From Safe Haven to Target: Hamas in Doha

Israel’s recent strike on Doha against Hamas leadership marks a decisive moment in the long struggle against terrorism. For years, Hamas maintained its political bureau in Qatar, using the tiny Gulf emirate as a safe haven from which its leaders could plot strategy while others carried out attacks that claimed the lives of innocent Israelis. Now, as Israel brings the fight to those who have orchestrated violence from abroad, old Qatari claims about how Hamas came to Doha have resurfaced, suggesting that the United States - and perhaps even Israel - once tolerated, or at least acquiesced in, the arrangement.

It is true that Hamas relocated from Damascus to Doha in 2012 after breaking with the Assad regime during Syria’s civil war. Qatari officials now insist that the move was not their initiative but the result of requests from Washington and with the tacit acceptance of Israel. They portray themselves as reluctant hosts, saying that the bureau’s presence was designed to enable mediation and indirect communication, particularly during crises in Gaza. To this day, Doha emphasizes that the office was never meant as a gesture of ideological support but as a channel for negotiations.

Even if one accepts that there was an element of pragmatism at play, Israel’s position has always been clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization whose leadership bears direct responsibility for rocket attacks, suicide bombings, kidnappings, and, most recently, the horrendous attacks of October 7th 2023. Whether in Damascus or Doha, Hamas used its foreign bureau to legitimize itself politically and coordinate militarily, exploiting its base of operations while Israel faced the consequences on the ground. That some in the international community once found it convenient to keep Hamas in Qatar, where it could be monitored and occasionally engaged, does not diminish the reality of Hamas’s ongoing campaign of terror.

The reaction to Israel’s strike has been swift and divided. Many governments and international organizations have condemned the operation as a violation of Qatari sovereignty, arguing that military action in a third country undermines international law. Yet the charge of illegitimacy rings hollow when viewed against precedent. The United States faced little sustained criticism when it sent special forces into Pakistan to eliminate Osama bin Laden in 2011, even though Pakistan was not consulted and its sovereignty was clearly breached. Bin Laden was universally recognized as a mastermind of terror, and his sanctuary abroad was no defense against justice. Hamas’s leaders, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians and designated terrorists by much of the world, fall into the same category.

Israel’s current operation reflects a shift in circumstances. After years of failed ceasefires and broken truces, it became undeniable that allowing Hamas to enjoy a political sanctuary abroad only perpetuated its capacity to wage war. Israel’s strike on Doha sends a clear message: those who direct and glorify violence against Israelis will no longer find immunity in luxury hotels and diplomatic cover. Qatar’s claims that it was acting on behalf of the U.S. or Israel in hosting Hamas may serve its political interests today, but they cannot erase the fact that Hamas thrived in Doha for over a decade.

In the end, Israel’s decision to target Hamas leadership in Qatar highlights the shift from cautious pragmatism to decisive action. What once may have been tolerated for the sake of negotiation has now revealed itself as a liability that allowed terrorism to persist. Israel, more than any other country, has lived with the consequences. By striking Hamas in Doha, it has signaled that no political office, however cloaked in diplomacy, can protect those who dedicate themselves to the destruction of the Jewish state. Just as the United States acted unilaterally to remove the threat of bin Laden, Israel has acted to eliminate a leadership that has made terror its defining creed.