00:00Arab and Islamic leaders have gathered in Doha for an emergency summit after that Israeli airstrike
00:05on the Qatari capital last week. The strike, as a reminder, killed five Hamas members and
00:11a Qatari security officer. The meeting this Monday serves as a pointed show of unity among
00:19Gulf and Mideast countries, and the members are seeking to pile more pressure on Israel,
00:24with attendees considering a draft resolution. Qatar's Prime Minister has described the strike
00:30as state terrorism and urged the world to reject what he called double standards for Israel.
00:38It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel
00:44for all the crimes it has committed. Israel should understand that it's genocidal wars that target
00:50our brotherly Palestinians with the goal of uprooting them from their own land and displace them
00:55will not succeed, no matter what Israel says to justify it.
01:00Well, for more on this story, we can bring in Dr. H. A. Hellier, who's a senior fellow in geopolitics,
01:06international security and Middle East studies at the Royal United Services Institute for
01:10Defense and Security Studies in London. Thank you very much for speaking to us on France 24.
01:16My pleasure. Thank you.
01:18I'd like to start by this meeting then with the Arab and Islamic leaders. What do you think we can
01:24expect to come out of the summit? Are we just expecting more stern words or any concrete actions?
01:31That's the million dollar question. I think that what happened last week on Qatar with the Israeli
01:38strikes on the Qatari capital really pushed not only Qatar, but also the Gulf more generally,
01:47including, including, I would add, the UAE, which signed up to the Abraham Accords with the Israelis
01:53five years ago. And then more broadly, just really pushed a lot of Arab political leaders
02:01into this position where they realized that even the existence of the largest U.S. base in the region,
02:09which is in Qatar al-Ordid, doesn't protect an Arab capital from strikes by the Israelis. The Israelis
02:18have been operating under what I like to call the impunity imperative, where they feel that they can
02:25engage wherever they see fit in the region in pursuit of addressing what they consider to be their short-term
02:33security interests without any concern around consequences or paying a price from not only the
02:43region, but the international community. And the fact that the special envoy of Donald Trump is in
02:52Doha today, Tom Barack, expressing support for the Qataris, I think is a signal from D.C. that they
03:00they don't want the region to feel that America isn't a good security partner. But I don't think
03:08that the region believes it anymore. You mentioned the Abraham Accords. Do you see there being any
03:14implications for those? I think that when you see the final communique out of the summit, there's going
03:22to be a general statement with regards to existing normalization agreements. So that includes with
03:31Egypt, with Jordan, which go back many years, but also the Abraham Accords as well, saying that these
03:37are being challenged or under threat or something like that. I don't expect the UAE to withdraw from
03:43the Abraham Accords as a result of this strike. But I do think that the Israelis are pushing the
03:52Emiratis in a particular direction, and particularly when they are very intent on annexing parts of the
03:59West Bank, which the Emiratis have expressed great reservations about. I think at the very least, you're
04:06likely to see a downgrading of political relations between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv. But I don't think
04:13at this juncture, they withdraw from the Accords. And Qatar says it wants the world to end its double
04:19standards for Israel's actions. And what is the likelihood of this, especially ahead of this summit
04:27at the United Nations, where France is leading that push to recognize a Palestinian state?
04:31I think that the international community more widely, particularly in the global south,
04:40views, particularly the West, particularly the United States and much of Europe, as not having
04:47double standards when it comes to Israel in the region, but no standards. The Israelis have prosecuted
04:55this war of devastation on Gaza for two years. They occupied positions in Lebanon. They invaded and
05:03occupied parts of Syria. They still do, including in Lebanon. It's reported that they sent drones to
05:12Tunisia with regards to the flotilla, although that's been unconfirmed. But the Israeli president didn't
05:18reject this charge when confronted about it at Chatham House in London a few days ago. They've struck Yemen.
05:27They've struck Iran in the midst of negotiations between the Iranians and the United States,
05:32and now Qatar. And as yet, we haven't seen more than statements come from the international community's
05:41most powerful actors with regards to the Israelis. I don't think this is tenable as a situation. I think
05:48the region in particular sees Israel as the most destabilizing actor at present. Even those Gulf countries
05:56that previously viewed the Iranians as the most destabilizing actor are now seeing the Israelis as
06:03the most destabilizing actor. And I think that they will also push their partners in Europe and the West
06:10to take stronger action. The question is how much and how quickly in order to send the message to the
06:19Israelis that further destabilizing and escalatory actions will not be tolerated.
06:24And we've also been covering the visit of Marco Rubio to Israel. He held a very friendly press
06:32conference alongside Benjamin Netanyahu just earlier. What is your take on how the Americans
06:39handle the situation going forward? Because Trump has said that he wants this war over,
06:44but Washington obviously continues to show support for Israel for its military actions in Gaza.
06:49So this is, again, a very good question because the fact of the matter is that if the United States
06:58wanted Israel to stop the war in Gaza, on Gaza, then the Israelis would stop. They would stop immediately.
07:09But the leverage that the United States has over the Israelis has not been put to any use at all
07:15when it comes to the provision of military aid, when it comes to political support at the UN. There are
07:23multiple levers of pressure that the United States could use vis-a-vis the Israelis. They've refused to
07:30do so. And on the contrary, even at this juncture where the Israelis have actually struck what is
07:37officially designated in Washington as a major non-NATO ally, i.e. the Qataris,
07:42Michael Rubio goes and is standing with the Israeli prime minister just a few days later and not
07:54criticizing, not calling him out in that regard. So the level of support from the United States vis-a-vis
08:04the Israelis continues to be quite high. Yes, the White House, Donald Trump has called for an end to the war,
08:12but under what terms and how? The Israelis are insisting on basically Hamas surrendering and then
08:20moving to, quote unquote, the Trump-Riviera plan, which sees the departure of huge portions of the
08:29Palestinian population from Gaza, most likely permanently. So I don't know how this is going to be a
08:37recipe for ending the war and being taken seriously by the Palestinians and regional actors.
08:44All right. Still, of course, many questions remain. Thank you,
08:48though, very much, Dr. H. A. Hellyer for your analysis. My pleasure.
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