Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Qatar
Jewish presence, Zionist advocacy and Israeli state, intelligence and commercial ties in the State of Qatar, which has never had diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity
Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Qatar cover the very small Jewish presence in the emirate, Qatar's courting of pro-"Israel" leaders in the United States, and its relationship with the Zionist entity. The two states have never had formal diplomatic relations. An Israeli trade office opened in Doha in 1996; Qatar closed it in 2000 and, after it had reopened, again in 2009. A 2007 US embassy cable said the office "focuses less on promoting trade than on facilitating political engagement".[1] Qatar has hosted the political bureau of Hamas since 2012 and has been a mediator between Hamas and "Israel".[2] In September 2025 "Israel" bombed Hamas leaders in Doha; three weeks later Benjamin Netanyahu apologised to Qatar's prime minister.[3] In Israeli politics Qatar is the subject of the "Qatargate" investigation into Netanyahu's aides.[4]
Jewish community and religious life
Jewish presence
Qatar has no organised Jewish community with its own premises in the sources reviewed. The US State Department reports that Jews are among the small religious groups in the country. Jews, like Baha'is, Hindus and Sikhs, are not registered or recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and so "must get married abroad to receive marriage certificates". In September 2023 the US embassy "helped facilitate the visit of a rabbi who conducted Jewish religious services". The same report cites IMPACT-se and the Anti-Defamation League on antisemitic content in Qatari textbooks and media, and describes antisemitic material posted by public schools during 2023.[5]
Association of Gulf Jewish Communities
A Qatari Jewish community was named as one of the founders of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC) on 15 February 2021, alongside those of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The AGJC's spiritual leader is Rabbi Elie Abadie, based in Dubai.[6] The founding statement does not name anyone from the Qatari community or give its size.
How far is it Zionist? No source found describes the Qatari community's leaders, its institutions or any tie to Zionist bodies. The World Jewish Congress lists no affiliate in Qatar. The only documented link is AGJC membership.[6]
Chabad
No Chabad emissary, centre or Powerbase page for Chabad in Qatar was found; the regional overview records "No presence".
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch in West Asia
The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi for Qatar.[7]
Zionist movement and advocacy
Courting pro-"Israel" leaders in the US, 2017–18
During the 2017 blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others, Qatar aimed "some of its charm offensive at Jewish and pro-Israel leaders", the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Alan Dershowitz, Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America and Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations visited Qatar at the invitation of its rulers. On 9 February 2018 Itai Bar Dov, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: "We do not approve of these visits by the Jewish organizations to Qatar."[8]
Two American Jews were central to the outreach: Joseph (Joey) Allaham, a kosher restaurant owner doing public relations work for Qatar, and Nick Muzin, an adviser to Republicans with a paid lobbying relationship with Qatar. Allaham disclosed in a foreign-agent filing that he gave $100,000 to the ZOA, $100,000 to Our Soldiers Speak and $50,000 to Mike Huckabee out of $1.45 million paid by Qatar for "community engagement". Klein said he had believed the money came from Allaham's own pocket and would return it if it came from Qatar. By June 2018 Allaham was "denouncing Qatar as inimical to Israeli and U.S. interests", and Muzin had said he was ending his paid lobbying relationship with Qatar.[9]
Pro-"Israel" criticism of Qatar
After the 2025 Doha strike, Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute told The Times of Israel: "The Qataris are the pleasant face of the Muslim Brotherhood". She said they should be "treated like the supporters of terrorism that they are".[3]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Trade office, 1996–2009
"Israel" opened a trade mission in Doha in 1996. According to AFP, Qatar froze relations later that year after Netanyahu became prime minister. In November 2000, during the Palestinian uprising, Qatar announced the closure of the office before the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Doha on 12–14 November. The mission's head said it did not "get involved with the politics", and Eli Avidar told AFP: "We have no relations with the Qatari government. This is only a trade office."[10] CBS News reported that Qatar was "buckling to pressure from Iran and Saudi Arabia", which had threatened to boycott the summit. The Qatar News Agency quoted an official: "the state of Qatar has decided to close the Israeli trade representative office in Doha to consolidate Islamic solidarity". CBS News, which gave 1995 as the opening year, said the office was in a two-storey villa.[11] The Times of Israel says the office reopened in 2005, after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.[3] The 2007 US cable shows it working in Doha under Ambassador Roi Rosenblit, and says it facilitated Shimon Peres's visit to Qatar in January 2007.[1] On 18 January 2009, during the Israeli offensive on Gaza, Qatar summoned the head of the office and ordered its staff to leave.[12] It has not reopened.[3]
The Knesset debated Qatar in this period. On 5 March 1997 the plenum took a motion on "Israel's relations with moderate Arab states: Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar and Oman". On 21 November 2000 a motion covered, among other things, "the conference of Islamic states in Qatar and its implications" (both in Hebrew).[13]
Trade
In November 2007 Rosenblit told US diplomats that official trade was about $2 million a year: Qatar exported about $1.2 million of goods to "Israel", mostly petrochemicals, and imported about $800,000, mostly telecommunications equipment. The embassy reported that real trade "may be as much as four times higher" via third countries, with some Israeli farm produce "labled in stores as coming from Egypt or Jordan". The cable said Qatar had no Arab League boycott laws on its books but usually sent an observer to the Central Boycott Office in Damascus. It also said that Qatar Airways had run a busy office in "Israel" for several years until October 2007.[1] The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics country table for 2022–2025 does not list Qatar.[14]
In January 2026 a Knesset member tabled a parliamentary question on "the feasibility of selling the company 'ZIM' to a private company under Qatari and Saudi control". A ministerial reply was recorded on 9 July 2026 (in Hebrew).[15]
World Cup 2022
For the 2022 FIFA World Cup, FIFA announced direct charter flights between Ben Gurion Airport and Doha. It said consular services for Israeli citizens would be provided "in coordination with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a designated privately-operated international travel company based in Doha".[16] Alon Lavi, spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry delegation in Doha, said that "in the agreement between Israel, Qatar, and FIFA, we found a solution by having a consular team in Qatar that can assist".[17]
Hamas, Gaza funds and mediation
In 2012, after Hamas leaders left Damascus, Qatar took them in, saying the US had asked it to do so. The Times of Israel reports that "since 2018, with Israel's quiet approval and at its behest, Qatar has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza — sustaining both the population and Hamas's rule".[3] The 2007 US cable had already noted Qatar's "dual pursuit of contacts and trade with Israel" while hosting the Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al.[1]
After 7 October 2023 Qatar mediated, with Egypt and the US, between Hamas and "Israel".[2] On 28 November 2023 the Mossad director, David Barnea, met CIA director William Burns and Qatar's prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Doha to build on the extension of the November truce, according to Reuters.[18]
Military action: the Doha strike, September 2025
On 9 September 2025 "Israel" struck a residential compound in Doha's Katara district where Hamas's negotiating team was meeting to discuss a US ceasefire proposal. Hamas said five of its members were killed, including the son of its chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. Qatar's interior ministry said one member of its Internal Security Force was killed. Qatar called the attack "cowardly" and a "flagrant violation of international law". The White House said that "unilaterally bombing inside Qatar ... does not advance Israel or America's goals".[2] Netanyahu said the next day that the strike was a warning "to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists". On 29 September, at the White House, he apologised by telephone to Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Donald Trump then said the two states had agreed "to launch a formal, trilateral mechanism". On 9 October Israeli negotiators were filmed embracing the Qatari prime minister at Sharm el-Sheikh after Hamas accepted the ceasefire deal.[3]
Intelligence and surveillance
Citizen Lab's 2018 survey of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware found suspected infections in Qatar linked to several operators, including one it associated with Bahrain and one it associated with Saudi Arabia.[19]
Arms
The SIPRI register records no arms transfers from "Israel" to Qatar.[20]
Regional structures
Qatar has no direct diplomatic relations with "Israel". No source reviewed records Qatari participation in the Abraham Accords.[4] The Times of Israel notes that Qatar was designated a "major non-NATO ally" by the US in 2022.[3]
Migration and aliyah
No source found records Jewish emigration from Qatar to "Israel", and no Jewish Agency activity in Qatar was documented. The 2007 US cable said that Qatar admitted Israeli visitors who obtained a visa in advance.[1] In November 2022 Israelis travelled to Doha for the World Cup on direct charter flights.[16]
Political interference
Qatargate
The "Qatargate" affair grew out of the separate "Bild" leak inquiry. It concerns suspected ties between Netanyahu's circle and Qatar, "a country with which Israel has no direct diplomatic relations, and which has supported Hamas for years, while also serving as a mediator in the war". Police investigated the media adviser Yonatan Urich and the political consultant Israel (Srulik) Einhorn, with the involvement of the Shin Bet. According to police documents, Urich was suspected of offences including "assistance to a foreign agent", disclosure of classified information, bribery, money laundering, and fraud and breach of trust. On 4 January 2026 police transferred the file to the prosecution. At that point no decision on charges had been made.[4] The "Bild" case centres on Eli Feldstein, a former military spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office.[4] The Times of Israel said that Qatar's method of seeking influence "through people, and with money" was something "it has allegedly also done in Israel, in the Prime Minister's Office".[3]
Members of the Knesset tabled parliamentary questions on the affair. These included "Aid campaign for Qatar by Prime Minister Netanyahu's people" (2 December 2024), "The Prime Minister's senior advisers built a campaign to improve Qatar's image" (31 December 2024) and "Eli Feldstein's involvement in activity for Qatar" (25 February 2025) (all in Hebrew).[15]
Enemy-state bill
A bill, the "Declaring Qatar an Enemy State Bill, 2026", was listed on the Knesset plenum agenda on 2 February 2026 and again, as an item for discussion, on 25 March 2026 (in Hebrew).[13] The Open Knesset tables do not show that it was passed.
Other Knesset business
In May 2008 the Knesset took a motion on the participation of MK Ahmad Tibi in the Palestinian delegation to the Qatar democracy forum (in Hebrew).[13]
Jeffrey Epstein
Justice Department documents reviewed by Reuters, the Miami Herald and Middle East Eye show Jeffrey Epstein advising Qatari figures during the 2017–21 blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt:[21][22][23]
- In 2017 he told Sheikh Jabor Yousuf Jassim Al Thani, a businessman and member of the ruling family whom he had known since at least 2012, that Qatar should "stop kicking and arguing", that "the current Qatar team is very weak" and that the foreign minister was "not experienced".[21][22]
- On 9 July 2017 he wrote to Sheikh Jabor: "If the people would allow your country to recognize israel. ,could be interesting to discuss. If not maybe consider putting 1 billion into a fund to benefit the victims of terrorist acts. asking the other gcc memebers to match it".[23] The Miami Herald reports that he also suggested paying for electricity in Gaza.[22]
- He tried to set up a face-to-face meeting between Qatar's former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. It is not known whether it took place.[22]
- In the winter of 2018 he arranged a meeting in London between Ehud Barak and Hamad bin Jassim. Barak pitched Carbyne, an Israeli start-up he chaired, for security work at the 2022 World Cup, writing: "We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile." At least $1 million of Barak's investment in Carbyne had come from Epstein's Southern Trust Company. Barak's lawyer told the Herald that Carbyne did not bid.[22]
The BBC reports that on his visits to Morocco Epstein stayed in the Palmeraie district of Marrakech, home to Jabor al Thani of the Qatari royal family, whom Epstein called his "Arab brother".[24] Qatar's International Media Office declined to comment to Reuters. Qatar kept its course, and the blockade ended in 2021.[21]
See also
- Chabad-Lubavitch in West Asia
- Association of Gulf Jewish Communities
- Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
- Mossad
- Zionist movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bahrain
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Saudi Arabia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to the United Arab Emirates
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Turkey
External links
- Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (official site)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 US Embassy Doha, Qatar-Israel Commerce Continues Quietly WikiLeaks (cable 07DOHA1047), 6 November 2007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 David Gritten and Paul Adams, Hamas claims leaders survived Israeli attack in Doha, but confirms six deaths BBC News, 9 September 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Nava Freiberg, From airstrike to hugs, Israel still won't decide whether Qatar is partner or foe The Times of Israel, 15 October 2025 (library copy).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Sarah Ben-Nun, Qatargate: Police transfer case to prosecution, seek extension of restrictions on Urich The Jerusalem Post, 4 January 2026.
- ↑ US Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Qatar US Department of State, 2024.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Association of Gulf Jewish Communities, Jews in 6 Gulf nations form first association to enhance regional Jewish life gulfjewish.org, 15 February 2021.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Ron Kampeas, Why Jewish leaders are fighting about Qatar Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 13 February 2018.
- ↑ Ron Kampeas, Qatar used a pro-Israel businessman to pay Zionist Organization of America $100,000 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 20 June 2018.
- ↑ AFP, Qatar to Close Israeli Office in Doha Al Bawaba, 9 November 2000.
- ↑ CBS News, Qatar Closes Israeli Trade Mission CBS News, 9 November 2000.
- ↑ Associated Press, Qatar closes Israeli trade office Hindustan Times, 19 January 2009.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Open Knesset, KNS plenum session items (mirror of official Knesset tables), items 292902, 376554, 377915 and 2239060, with dates from the KNS plenum sessions table, accessed 20 October 2026 (library copy).
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Open Knesset, KNS parliamentary questions (mirror of official Knesset tables), queries 2224327, 2225712, 2228457 and 2238588, accessed 20 October 2026 (library copy).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 FIFA, Israelis and Palestinians to fly together to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 FIFA, 10 November 2022.
- ↑ Israeli delegation in Doha: 'Qatar is doing everything for the World Cup to go peacefully' Israel National News, 20 November 2022.
- ↑ Reuters, Mossad, US spy chiefs meet Qatari PM to discuss 'building on' Gaza truce The Jerusalem Post, 28 November 2023.
- ↑ Citizen Lab, Hide and Seek: Tracking NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware to Operations in 45 Countries The Citizen Lab, 18 September 2018.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, trade registers, Qatar as recipient (all suppliers) and Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, generated 20 October 2026 (library copy).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Jana Choukeir, Andrew Mills and Maha El Dahan, Epstein tried to build web of powerful ties across Middle East, documents show Reuters, 19 February 2026.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Shirsho Dasgupta, Epstein's ties to Arab royals: An offer to tutor crown prince, a gift from Mecca Miami Herald, 8 April 2026.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Sean Mathews, Epstein said Qatar had to 'sing and dance' for Israel like Modi, to escape blockade Middle East Eye, 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Emir Nader and Samuel Owers, Epstein tried to buy a palace in Morocco days before his arrest in 2019 BBC News, 27 February 2026.