Netanyahu Calls Qatar a 'Hostile State,' Defends Israel's 2025 Doha Strike and Pre-War Gaza Funding

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Qatar a "hostile state" in an interview with i24NEWS that aired Saturday, September 5, while insisting Doha never dictated Israeli decision-making, according to Euronews and a post from Doha News on X.

"Qatar is a hostile state, but Qatar is not a state that dictated anything here," Netanyahu said, per Euronews. He dismissed the broader controversy over his government's alleged ties to Doha as "one big bluff," according to Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu also boasted about last year's Israeli strike on Doha, saying, "I attacked Qatar, I also bombed it and attacked them during the war, and they attacked me," according to the Doha News post on X.

The Doha Strike, One Year Out

The remarks come just days before the one-year mark of Israel's September 9, 2025 strike on Doha, which targeted senior Hamas officials gathered to discuss a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal, according to Doha News and Euronews. Six people were killed, including a member of Qatar's security forces, though Hamas said its senior negotiating team survived, Euronews reported. Doha News put the toll at five Hamas members plus one Qatari security official, consistent with Euronews' total count of six.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the strike a "blatant violation of all international laws and norms," with spokesperson Majed Al Ansari branding it a "cowardly" assault, according to the Doha News post.

Netanyahu did not walk that back this week. But he has already apologized once. During a September 29, 2025 White House call with President Donald Trump and Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Netanyahu said Israel had been targeting Hamas rather than Qatar and pledged Israel would not violate Qatari sovereignty again, according to both Euronews and Doha News.

Netanyahu apologized privately to the Qatari government in 2025, then publicly called that same government "hostile" a year later. Netanyahu's own words this week do not easily reconcile the two positions. Neither Al Jazeera nor Euronews reported any attempt by him to do so.

The Qatari Money Question

Netanyahu also used the interview to defend years-old decisions about Qatari cash flowing into Gaza before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. He said the transfers were meant for humanitarian purposes and were recommended by Israel's own security agencies, according to Euronews.

Critics have long argued that funneling Qatari money into Hamas-controlled Gaza, even under a humanitarian label, helped a terror group build and sustain infrastructure that was later used to kill and kidnap Israeli civilians. The logic parallels sanctions regimes worldwide, which operate on the theory that money is fungible and aid to a Hamas-run territory frees up Hamas's own funds for weapons.

Qatar has consistently denied financing Hamas, saying its aid moved through channels known to and coordinated with Israel and the United States, according to Euronews. Doha did not immediately respond publicly to Netanyahu's latest comments, per Euronews' reporting. No investigation or formal accusation of wrongdoing against Qatar over the funding has been reported in these sources; the dispute remains a war of public statements, not a legal proceeding.

Qatar vs. Iran: A Separate Fight

Separately from the Netanyahu flap, Qatar is disputing Iran's version of events over missile and drone strikes on Qatari territory. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei cited a Qatari security assessment prepared for the International Telecommunication Union, claiming it showed Iranian strikes mainly hit US military facilities and avoided civilian areas, with the exception of a March strike on gas facilities at Ras Laffan that Baghaei said were supporting US operations, according to Euronews.

Qatar's Al Ansari rejected that reading outright, accusing Tehran of quoting the document selectively and out of context, Euronews reported. Doha has been filing complaints and pushing diplomatic channels over the strikes, according to Crypto Briefing.

The broader backdrop is a region still on a war footing. A tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a fire that was later extinguished, with all crew reported safe, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations. Iran's armed forces have also named Persian-language outlets including BBC Persian, Iran International, and Radio Farda in what spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi called a "military target bank," accusing them of ties to Mossad and the CIA, according to Iran International's reporting carried by Fox News.

None of Qatar's specific accusations against Iran, or Iran's characterization of its own strikes, have been independently verified in these sources. What is confirmed: Doha and Tehran are now fighting a public documentation war over the same conflict, at the same time Doha and Jerusalem are fighting over the same year-old strike. Qatar has not issued a public response to Netanyahu's latest comments as of this writing.