PrairiePundit

 Axios: Qatar, Egypt and Turkey are urging Hamas to give a positive response to President Trump's proposal for ending the war in Gaza, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. Why it matters: The three countries are the mediators with the closest ties to Hamas and primary responsibility for passing messages between the group and Israel and the U.S. Top officials of those countries have met Hamas leaders twice in the last 24 hours. ... If Hamas fails to take up this offer, it will likely be destroyed by Israeli forces.  Hamas has engaged in the mass murder of Israeli civilians, and that is the reason Israel is attacking it. See also: Hamas documents reportedly show deep ties, coordination between Qatar, terror group Papers apparently seized in Gaza show Hamas political chief told Doha its funds were the group’s ‘main artery’ and Sinwar wanted more supportive Qatar to take leading role in mediation

  Newsmax: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxury Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation. The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the aircraft to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.” Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars. “Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during the trip. Others, however, have said Trump's acceptance of an aircraft that has been called a “palace in the sky” is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition ...

 Federalist Wire: ... President Donald Trump capped his high-stakes Gulf tour with a landmark announcement on Thursday, unveiling over $200 billion in commercial agreements between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The deals, struck during the final stop of his regional visit, signal a bold step forward in strengthening America’s economic ties with the Gulf and fostering new opportunities for growth. The UAE agreements follow a wave of significant trade and investment commitments secured earlier in Trump’s trip from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These partnerships are poised to drive job creation, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and fuel innovation across multiple industries. “President Trump continues to advance the interests of the American people, enhancing market access for American exporters to strengthen our economic and national security,” the White House stated. Among the “transformative deals” are major wins for American companies. Boeing and GE Aerospace sealed a $1...

  Blaze: ... "What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?" asked Rachel Scott. "You're ABC Fake News, right? ... You should be embarrassed asking that question!" said the president defiantly. Trump then indicated that paying Qatar for the gift would be stupid. "They're giving us a free jet," he explained. "I could say, 'No, I want to pay you $1 billion,' or I could say, 'Thank you.'" Scott pressed on, and the president denied the allegations more forcefully. "It's not a gift to me. It's a gift to the Department of Defense, and you should know better, because you've been embarrassed enough and so has your network," he added. "Your network is a disaster. ABC is a disaster." ... The jet will not belong to Trump. It will stay in the DOD after Trump leaves office. The Qataris made an unusually large donation.  But it is not much different than when the US makes ...

 American Action News: ‘Not Welcome Here’: Qatar Reportedly Expels Hamas Following Terrorist Group’s Latest Rejection Of Ceasefire Deal Hamas knows it is losing the war in Israel.  It made the mistake of engaging in a mass murder attack against a country with superior force and is suffering the consequences. 

 ISW: Qatar instructed Hamas’ political leadership to relocate from Doha, according to US officials and Israeli media.[1] The Qatar-based members of the Hamas Political Bureau would in this case need to find a new base of operations, which could be Iraq. The United States reportedly pressured Qatar to expel Hamas’ political leadership after the group rejected the latest ceasefire-hostage agreement proposed by international mediators.[2] Emirati media reported in June 2024 that Hamas was considering moving its headquarters to Iraq.[3] Hamas later established its first political office in Baghdad at some point in Summer 2024.[4] Hamas political leadership moving to Iraq would be consistent with the growing importance of Iraq in Iranian strategy in the Middle East, as the IDF has degraded Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah. Members of Iran’s Axis of Resistance have increasingly used Iraq as a center for coordination and cooperation in recent months.[5] Iran and the Axis of Resistance, as t...

  National Review: Taliban Gives Permission for 200 American Civilians, Others to Leave Afghanistan ... The Associated Press reported that two Qatari officials say they expect 100 to 150 Americans to depart from Kabul’s airport on Thursday on a Qatari flight that had delivered humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. A Qatari official told the Wall Street Journal that the flight was not an evacuation flight as all of the passengers hold foreign passports and, if required, visas for their destinations, and have been ticketed by the airline. ... It looks like the Qataris paid the bribes in the form of "humanitarian aid." 

 Washington Free Beacon: British MP Ian Paisley Jr. told colleagues in the House of Commons last week that the United States is no longer sharing military intelligence with Qatar due to the country's close ties to Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. Paisley Jr. said the revelation came from a report by the British geopolitical risk firm Cornerstone Global Associates detailing Qatar's links to Iran-backed terrorism. The report warned that Israel's renewed relations with Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have made Qatar even less willing to engage with fellow Arab states. Instead, Qatar has intensified cooperation with Turkish and Iranian media campaigns against the new U.S.-led coalition. Adding to concerns about Doha's complicity in international terrorism, a new lawsuit from American families living in Israel alleges that Qatari banks have secretly developed a backchannel with Palestinian terrorists responsible for killing U.S. citize...

  NY Times: U.S. Hopes a Small Step in Easing a Mideast Rivalry Could Further Rattle Iran’s Economy The Trump administration wants Saudi Arabia to open its airspace to Qatari flights that are currently paying millions of dollars to route over Iran. It would also be safer for Qatari flights.  The maximum pressure campaign has made it much harder for Iran to sustain its terrorist attacks around the world and particularly in the Middle East. It has made the region safer.

Washington Free Beacon: Qatar secretly provided funding for several terror attacks that killed Americans and Israelis, according to allegations leveled in an unprecedented new lawsuit filed in New York City on Wednesday that seeks compensation for the families of those killed. Multiple Qatari financial institutions, largely controlled by the country’s ruling monarch, provided millions of dollars to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), two U.S.-designated terrorist organizations that waged multiple successful attacks on American citizens, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Washington Free Beacon . As part of this alleged funding scheme, Qatari charities allegedly used the U.S. banking system to illegally funnel these groups the money necessary to orchestrate and conduct the attacks. As Hamas’s most prolific funder, "Qatar coopted several institutions that it dominates and controls to funnel coveted U.S. dollars (the chosen currency of Middle East terrori...

Washington Free Beacon: Qatar Waging Influence Operations Across U.S. Through Hacks, Secret Cash Deals Former intel officials, experts warn of Doha's stealth campaign to control U.S. foreign policy The Washington Post writer killed in Turkey was alleged to have been a Qatari plant who pushed an anti-Saudi agenda through the Post .

Jim Hanson: The Washington Post has caused itself a major scandal since it has come to light they and their martyred “reformer” Jamal Khashoggi were publishing anti-Saudi propaganda for Qatar. They tried to bury this in a pre-Christmas Saturday news dump, but that can’t stop the damage this will do to their reputation. “Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post , proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government,” the Post wrote December 21. The Post says they were unaware of this, although Khashoggi’s Qatar connections were well known. They will have to answer for what is either incompetence in connecting these dots or simply not caring as Khashoggi’s attacks on President Trump and the Saudis fit right in with their narrative. The Qatar Foundation denies they were paying hi...

Washington Free Beacon: After multiple people central to Qatar's efforts to win influence in the United States severed ties with the Persian Gulf country this week, influential U.S. lobbyists with connections to Doha have not said whether they plan to follow suit. Key figures who helped Qatar improve its standing in the U.S., make politically useful investments, and gain favor with the American Jewish community ended their relationships with the Qatari government after the country's leader embraced a prominent Islamic scholar who has called for the killing of Jews and Americans at an event last week. However, at least two big-name lobbyists receiving money from Qatar are not saying whether they'll do the same. Neither Jim Courtovich, Washington-based lobbyist and founder and managing partner of Sphere Consulting, nor Florida-based lobbyist Brian Ballard, president of Ballard Partners, responded to requests for comment on details of their business relations with Qatar and ...

Daniel Greenfield: ... While Qatar’s Al Jazeera terror network undermined governments, the terror kingdom shipped massive amounts of weapons to its Islamic terrorist allies. The Obama administration colluded with Qatar’s arms shipments to terrorists by instructing NATO forces not to interdict these shipments which later ended up in the hands of Jihadists in Libya and Mali. Qatar bought weapons from the genocidal Muslim Brotherhood regime in Sudan, whose leader is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity, and shipped them to Jihadists in Syria through the terror state of Turkey. Secretary of State John Kerry even winked at Qatar's funding of Hamas , another genocidal Muslim Brotherhood regime. This is the sort of serious collusion that we should be discussing. But while Qatar funds terrorists, its massive propaganda operation also attempts to influence Americans. The terror kingdom acquired Current TV from Al Gore for $500 million. But the terror network failed to attract v...

International Business Times: On Tuesday the Department of Defense announced a new $524 million contract for Lockheed Martin to sell Patriot missiles domestically and to foreign militaries, including those of Romania, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Kingdom is represented in Washington through a web of influential power brokers — among them until recently was the Podesta Group, which folded late last year amid possible implication in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. While representing Saudi Arabia in Washington, Podesta Group also lobbied Washington on behalf of Lockheed. Saudi Arabia’s three-year-long war in Yemen has been aided by U.S. military equipment, intelligence, and logistics support. Last year, the kingdom acquired $1.1 billion worth of American precision-guided munitions and helicopters, aided by lobbying from former U.S. congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon . In May, President Donald Trump announced a $110 billion arms package to be sold to Saudi Arabia over the ne...

David Goldman: Turkey’s “Olive Branch” incursion against Kurdish positions in Northern Syria this week looked bad for Washington. It’s worse than it looks: Turkey cemented a new set of strategic and economic relationships after defying the United States, its erstwhile main ally. Ankara now has financial backing from China and Qatar and the strategic acquiescence of Russia and Iran. Most of all, it has the financial backing to pursue its regional ambitions. Turkey reportedly killed several hundred Kurdish and allied Arab fighters this week, reducing an American-supported force that had done most of the fighting against ISIS in Syria. US-Turkish relations are at an all-time nadir, but Turkey’s financial markets remain unruffled. Washington has hard words for Turkey, but no sticks and stones. ... With the attack on the American-allied Kurdish YPG militia in the northern town of Afrin last week, Turkey undertook a major military action in open defiance of Washington, and the markets ...

NY Times: Tillerson Finds His Role Undercut by the Oval Office Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has found himself out of sync, especially on Middle East policy, with President Trump and his top advisers Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon. I think he is getting bad advice from the career State Department employees who seem to have an unrealistic assessment of situations like that in Qatar.  They are also giving bad advice on the Muslim Brotherhood.  Trump seems to have a more realistic approach to the situation. It is time to move past the failed policies of the past that have allowed the Islamist cancer to spread in the Middle East.  With allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt expressing a more realistic approach to the problem. the US should seize the opportunities presented to rid themselves of trolls like Qatar's leaders.

Shoebot.com: Secret Documents Reveal A Grand Conspiracy Behind Qatar And Turkey For A Muslim Brotherhood Takeover What I do not understand is why the US State Department is insistent on supporting this Islamist organization even against the allegations of other Muslims.  The claim that labeling them a terrorist organization will alienate Muslims seems to be belied by the fact that so many Muslims reject the group.

Rubin Center: An alliance of pro-US Sunni Arab states is emerging The decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen to cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar is the latest step in the re-emergence of a clearly defined US-led Sunni Arab bloc of states. The task of this alliance is to roll back Iranian influence and advancement in the region, and to battle against the forces of Sunni political Islam. Little noticed by western media, this conservative Sunni alliance against Iran and Sunni Islamism has been under construction for some time. Saudi Arabia and the UAE were the first to recognize the new regime of General Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi following the military coup on July 3, 2013. Financial support from both countries has been crucial in ensuring the avoidance of economic disaster in Egypt. The Saudis and Emiratis were the moving force behind the interventions into Bahrain in 2011 and Yemen in 2015. In both cases, the intention was to preven...

CNN: Five Iranian planes filled with food have landed at Doha airport as the blockade against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries starts to bite. Iran said the planes were filled with vegetables and that it plans to send 100 tons of fresh fruit and legumes every day to the import-dependent nation, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. "So far five planes carrying ... vegetables have been sent to Qatar, each carrying around 90 tonnes of cargo, while another plane will be sent today," Iran Air spokesman Shahrokh Noushabadi told the Agence France-Presse news agency Sunday. "We will continue deliveries as long as there is demand." Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut links with Qatar last Monday, accusing Doha of supporting and financing terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere -- a charge Qatar denies. Separately, Iran is preparing to send a flotilla of warships first to Oman and then later to international w...