Qatar’s deputy prime minister: ‘Villain’ Huckabee offers ‘satanic and destructive’ choice between Israel and Iran

Trump just announced that he was holding off on attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran because the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE asked him to. Yet there is no indication that those states have American interests at heart, and here al-Kawari makes it clear that the Qataris don’t. He says that Qatar has its differences with Iran now, but they’re both Muslim countries, and will patch things up. But with Israel, he says, it’s a different story. This makes clear that this is an alliance of convenience, and Trump shouldn’t be so solicitous of what the Sunni Muslim states want.

“Qatari Minister Attacks U.S. Ambassador To Israel: He Is A Villain Who Presents Us With A ‘Satanic And Destructive Choice’ Between Our Muslim Neighbor Iran And The Occupying Entity, Israel,” MEMRI, May 18, 2026:

In an angry post on his X account on May 13, 2026, Hamad Al-Kawari, a Qatari Minister of State with rank of Deputy Prime Minister and director of the Qatar National Library, who formerly served as his country’s ambassador to the U.S., the UN, and France, responded to recent remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who called on the Gulf states to choose between Iran, which attacks them, and Israel, which helps them….

“We completely reject the satanic choice [mentioned by] Huckabee.

“U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee presented us with a choice between Israel and Iran, as though the region can contain only one of them. This is a reprehensible framing [of the issue], and indeed a carefully crafted plan promoted by people with agendas and adopted by others in good faith and out of shortsightedness.

“Iran indeed attacked us during the recent war, and its aggression is completely unacceptable. Responding to it was a legitimate right anchored in international law and in every political treaty and convention. If someone attacks us, no matter who, we will defend ourselves and respond to the aggression in kind.

“However, there is a fundamental difference [between Iran and Israel] that must not be ignored. Iran is a neighboring Muslim country with an ancient civilization rooted in history, and it shares [our] Islamic cultural heritage. We disagree with it and may even fight it, but we cannot change geography and history. Once the aggression subsides, dialogue based on good neighborliness and mutual respect will remain the ideal way to stabilize the region, achieve cooperation, and safeguard everyone’s interests.

“In Israel’s case, the situation is fundamentally different, because it is a plundering, occupying entity that believes its survival depends on expelling the Palestinian people from their land and expanding the settlements by swallowing up the Arab lands in the West Bank and Gaza. It continues to pursue an expansionist plan, which Huckabee himself revealed when he spoke openly about ‘Greater Israel.’

So what ‘choice’ is Huckabee presenting us with? As I condemn our Muslim neighbor [Iran] for its aggression, which violated a cherished Islamic value, namely the value of good neighborliness, I also accuse it of giving this villain [Huckabee] a chance to make this revolting proposal. The choice Huckabee mentioned is a satanic and destructive one, and we completely reject it out of awareness of this [expansion] plan, of its goals, and of the goals and objectives of the enemy.”