At least Syria’s al-Sharaa claims that he has changed and is no longer a jihadi. Al Thani is not even making any similar claim. The leaders of Hamas watched and celebrated the jihad massacres of Oct. 7, 2023 from a comfortable room in Doha. Qatar has changed none of its stances since then. Trump is trying to end the cycle of violence by making deals based on pragmatic interests, but that won’t make the jihad go away, and he may come to regret having entered into these agreements.
“Trump signs agreements with Qatar on defense and Boeing purchases,” by Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, May 14, 2025:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a series of agreements with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Qatar.
The agreements involved a purchasing agreement by Qatar for Boeing aircraft, as well as letters of intent and “joint cooperation” between Qatar and the U.S. The emir also signed an intent agreement to purchase MQ-9 drone aircraft.
Al Thani said he had a “great” conversation with Trump prior to the signing ceremony on Wednesday, adding that the agreements have elevated the U.S.-Qatar relationship to “another level.”
The deepening U.S. relationship with Qatar has drawn fresh scrutiny this week, both due to Trump’s visit and amid reports that his administration may accept a free jet from the Qatari royal family to temporarily replace the current Air Force One.
The prospect has drawn bipartisan pushback, which Trump has met with indifference.
“Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally. I mean, they support Hamas. So what I’m worried about is the safety of the president,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters on Tuesday.
U.S. relations with Doha have come a long way since 2017, when Trump accused Qatar of harboring terrorism: “The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump said at the time.
From there, Qatar became a major non-NATO ally to the U.S. in 2022 under President Joe Biden and is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the U.S.’s largest Middle Eastern bases and a key hub for U.S. Central Command operations.
Qatar has been at the forefront of peace and hostage negotiations, especially in the war between Israel and Hamas. An Israeli delegation traveled to Doha on Tuesday to hash out a potential agreement on a hostage exchange and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
In March, weeks of negotiations led by U.S. and Qatari mediators led to the release of American George Glezmann, who had been imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than two years. Doha’s negotiators were also involved in the U.S.-Hamas deal to release the last living American hostage, Edan Alexander, on Monday….
Madeline Brooks says
It is way past time for MAGA to fall out of love with Trump and look at him critically. Before you hate me for saying this, know that I voted for him 3 times. It is time to separate what is in the US and Israel’s interest from what is in Trump’s interest.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
💯
I voted for him the last 2 times: didn’t have the vote in 2016. For the first time in 9 years, I have negative feelings about him. I agree w/ some that US interests may sometimes diverge from Israel’s, and there are some things he has done that can be accepted w/ a wait-&-see attitude, like the recognition of al-Shara’a in Damascus. However, his indulgence of Qatar, Turkey & Iran, as well as signing separate deals w/ the Houthis and Hamas (on the Edan Alexander release) is absolutely disgusting
Joe1 says
I voted for Trump three times, and I supported him for POTUS even before he announced that he was running, because he promised tariffs which we are finally getting. In the last 70 years, the USA has funded almost every other country in the world by shipping them $20 trillion dollars of industry through chronic trade deficits. We have the largest market, so our trade deficits have been just plain stupid.
Trump says that he doesn’t take Islam seriously, and I suppose that he doesn’t. He seems to think that Muslims will drop their pro-war stance to make money. So yeah, it’s naive, but it is what the USA has been doing for a long time.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I don’t fully believe that he’s ignorant of islam. I do recall years ago, when he said in an interview, “I think islam hates us”. He thought correct, even if he’s not read any books (only downside of that is that when muslim activists trying to grease him deny it, he has no way of refuting it)
A simple retort to the claim that muslims would be happy to make money: why did all the Gulf countries, until recently, bankroll jihad and dawa activities worldwide? MbS has been doing his reforms for now close to 10 years, but before that, under kings Fahd and Abdullah, Saudi Arabia was notorious for funding such activity. So was Emirates and Kuwait. It’s only MbS who ended it from Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates ruler who did it in the Emirates, and both countries have stopped teaching their schools to hate Jews and Christians
In fact, before 9/11/2001, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates were two out of three countries, the other being Pakistan, which recognized the Taliban regime. Iraq under Saddam was using all that money to arm itself to fight whichever given enemy it had in mind on the given day – be it Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, who knows who? The idea that if a country is rich, it’ll automatically lose its appetite for war is completely unfounded
Stive says
UAE that does not sponsor terror has offered trump to move the command there from Qatar. Doesn’t happen.
aum says
Trump with loose lips and delusional.
Stop taking Qatari and Arab bribes.
Karen Ann Dowden says
I think Trump is on a very slippery slope, He does not understand Islam at all. So he feels sitting on a fence and making deals will stop their terrorism, especially to Israel. Never. From this standpoint I am very very concerned as many here have stated. There needs to be someone in the administration who can show them. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a great pick for this position.
Very worrying.
gravenimage says
Trump signs series of agreements with Muslim Brotherhood sponsor, Hamas-supporting Qatar
………………………………….
This is concerning, No, it won’t make Jihad go away–it will just enable it.
But while Trump *is* consistently anti-terrorism–a good thing that should be true of every Western leader–he is, sadly, as we have seen, not at all savvy about Islam itself. This is *always* a serious problem.
Tinman Newheart says
Letters and complaints are not enough, I won’t give another dime to the GOP or Trump allies campaigning for funds if this kind of compromise with Muslims continues.