World Cup and Qatar’s normalization with Israel

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Israel sent a diplomatic delegation to Qatar to complete the arrangements that help the Israeli fans attend the world cup matches based on a previous agreement between Tel Aviv and Doha that included operating direct flights between Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and the Qatari capital. A media center was also established in Doha to help the Israeli journalists cover the matches. This development uncovered the double standard policy of Qatar regarding its support for the Palestinian people and it was described by analysts as a sign of warming ties between the two sides that could be developed later into official normalization of relations between Qatar and Israel regardless of the daily crimes and atrocities committed by the Israeli entity against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

The Qatari government claimed that Doha’s stance towards normalization was clear and that these arrangements were “temporary” due to the world’s biggest sport event.

In a statement to Syria Times, Pablo Sabbagh, a Professor at Madrid Complutense University and author of “Syria in Perspective” book http://www.syriainperspective.com, commented on Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup and its claims about rejecting normalization with Israel.

He said “with the World Cup the Qatari regime pretended to improve its international image in order to transform itself into a regional power praised here and there, especially in the collective West. As the minuscule emirate has not demographic or cultural resources to become such a power, it has been trying hard to buy influence and political leverage through this very expensive propaganda schemes, like the organization of large sport competitions.”

However, it’s already clear that Qatar’s image is not benefitting at all from the World Cup. The radical ideology that inspires its political regime and its poor labor and human rights records, especially regarding women, have been exposed worldwide. Qatar’s double standards and contradictions have been also seen by everybody.

One of those contradictions has to do with a core issue for the region, which is the occupation of Palestine. The Qatari rulers have pretended to defend the Palestinian cause while at the same time it normalizes its relations with the Zionist entity. In the case of Qatar, normalization acquires a double sense. Firstly, to follow the steps of other countries that have established all kinds of links with Israel.  But secondly, in the case of Qatar, normalize means to recover what for Doha was precisely that, because for the former British colony not long ago it was “normal” to have a very good relation with the Zionist entity in several fields. In other words, and under the excuse of the World Cup, business as usual for Qatar and Israel.

Doha’s lack of other real and solid resources to fulfill its ambition to become a regional power is filled up with this double standard policy that when it’s exposed is quickly covered up with Western style hypocrisy, something understandable if it’s taken into account that Qatar mainly wants to please the West. They do so regarding Palestine or Syria, a country that the tiny but rich Gulf state contributed to destabilize and until now still refuses to admit and correct such a failed policy. Obviously, all that plays in the hands of Qatar main sponsors and allies, the US, France, Turkey and Israel.”

FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is now nearing its end as the final match will be held on Sunday. Since the football carnival began, anti-Israeli sentiment has been running high, with football fans from across the world waving the Palestinian flag during the matches and refusing to speak to Israeli journalists covering the World Cup. The fans wanted to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people under occupation, their refusal to normalize ties with the enemy and their rejection of the existence of the Israeli entity in the region.

Hamda Mustafa