https://arab.news/gr7fd
- Israel has ‘to be very, very careful … Qatar has been a great ally to the US’
- Hamas negotiators in Doha targeted
LONDON: US President Donald Trump hit out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for launching airstrikes on Qatar, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Sources told the newspaper that the attack, which targeted Hamas negotiators, left Trump furious, telling US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Netanyahu is f—g me.”
Trump added that he was “not happy” with Netanyahu, and that the attack “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”
It is thought that Israel did not warn the White House in advance of the strikes, and afterward Trump called Netanyahu to make clear his displeasure.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said after the attack: “The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed.”
Trump said ahead of a state visit by Rubio to Israel earlier this week: “My message is that they (Israel) have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the US.”
During Rubio’s trip, Netanyahu said ties between the US and Israel were “as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall.”