Qatar is a “wolf in sheep’s clothes” that uses its money to buy influence worldwide, Economy Minister Nir Barkat said at The Jerusalem Post Annual New York Conference on Monday.
“If we look at geopolitics, there is the evil axis, starting from Iran, and including Qatar,” Barkat said. He accused Qatar of spending a “trillion dollars” to “be perceived as a sheep” while actually backing Hamas.
This is why he supported a bill that was recently green-lit by the government to deem Qatar a “terror-supporting state,” Barkat said.
“The lesson from October 7 is that there are no more gray areas,” Barkat said. He said that Qatar “wants Hamas to succeed” and said that was the reason he had demanded that it cease to function as a mediator in the Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations.
Barkat also stated that, in addition to Muslim states in the region, the Palestinians in the West Bank may attempt to enter the Abraham Accords.
'After October 7 there is no grey'
“One day, hopefully not far off, Arabs in Judea and Samaria will want to leave the Palestinian Authority and attempt to join the Abraham Accords. After October 7, there is no gray – if they collaborate with Israel, we would love to help them look like Dubai. If not, they will look like Gaza,” Barkat said.
He refrained from going into details, but said this was a sentiment he shared with settler leaders in the West Bank. He called it “very entrepreneurial and out of the box,” and said that the prime minister, other ministers, and “friends around the world” supported the idea.