On September 9, Israel bombed a building in Doha, Qatar. Israel was attempting to assassinate top leaders of Hamas who were gathered to discuss Trump’s latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Hamas senior officials survived this unprovoked aggression. But a Qatari security official and five lower-ranking Hamas members were killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed the strike was revenge on “the terrorist chiefs of Hamas” for launching the October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.1 Revenge was probably one motivation, but the main goal of this attack was to derail any possible ceasefire agreement between the U.S., Israel, and Hamas. Such a ceasefire could get in the way of Israel’s looming ground invasion of Gaza City and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
This unprecedented attack on a U.S. ally and Gulf Arab state was a shock that sent a threatening message across the region. Israel’s UN ambassador bluntly spelled it out at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council: “That strike sends a message that should echo across this chamber: There is no sanctuary for terrorists. Not in Gaza, not in Tehran [Iran’s capital], not in Doha.”
Translated into plain language, Israel’s message was basically: “There’s a new order in the Middle East. We are not bound by international law or norms. We’ll attack anyone, anywhere, anytime it serves what we perceive to be in our interests.”
This attack, Israel’s message, and the U.S. response point to the escalating danger of a wider war—or wars—in the Middle East.
The U.S. and Qatar
Qatar is a very small, reactionary monarchy on the Persian Gulf—located directly across from Iran. It has enormous natural gas reserves and wealth. It is also a close U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Central Command, the Al Udeid Air Base, and to 10,000 U.S. soldiers. Qatar is a key link in the U.S. military posture in the region. In 2022, then-President Biden designated it a “major non-NATO ally.” In turn, Qatar depends on the U.S. military for protection.
Qatar has also played a very useful role for the U.S. diplomatically. At the U.S.'s behest, it has served as an intermediary between the U.S. and forces with which it does not have formal relations or is in conflict, but needs to communicate or negotiate with. This is why Qatar has been hosting Hamas leaders (and Afghanistan’s Taliban before that) and playing a central role in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.2
“A Wholly Independent Israeli Operation"
It is not fully known what Trump knew about this attack, or when he knew of it.
Netanyahu’s office claimed that the attack was "a wholly independent Israeli operation" without U.S. involvement. "Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility."
The fascist Trump regime claimed to have learned of Israel’s attack when it was taking place and so were only able to inform Qatar 10 minutes after Israel’s missiles hit. “The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the United States,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “and feels very badly about the location of this attack,” although U.S. officials also said they supported the assassination of Hamas leaders.
Trump reportedly ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize a defense cooperation agreement with Qatar. And on September 11, in a rare move, the U.S. sided with the rest of the United Nations Security Council in unanimously passing a resolution expressing “their condemnation of the recent strikes in Doha” (without explicitly naming Israel or invoking any sanctions or punishments).
The U.S.: Stuck with, and Standing by, Israel
Read/listen to this social media message from @BobAvakianOfficial.
The U.S. and Israel do have various conflicts and differences of opinion, and there may be times Israel does act unilaterally. That certainly may be the case here, but there are also indications that the Trump regime may have known more, sooner, than it’s letting on.
First, it is very hard to imagine that Israel would send warplanes to within 18.6 miles of U.S. forces and the Al Udeid Air Base (with its extensive radar and defense systems) without first clearing this (according to protocols in place) with the U.S. military. Otherwise, the U.S. could have suspected its forces—or Qatar—were under attack and responded militarily.
Second, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the attack was, “according to an Israeli official involved in Gulf relations, coordinated with the U.S. government.” The paper added, “It is likely [Netanyahu] received a green light from Washington in advance. It is just as difficult to see a scenario in which the strike was not known in advance to the Qatari government, either. The United States would not have endangered its relations with its main ally in the Persian Gulf.”
Denying that the U.S. had anything to do with the attack may have been intended to give the Trump regime “plausible deniability” in order to maintain its ties with Qatar and other Arab states.
Most fundamentally, whatever the Trump regime knew or didn't know, the U.S. is "stuck with and sticking by Israel.” Why?
As the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian said in his social media message @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #7, “ Why is the U.S. supporting Israel's genocide of Palestinians”:
It is because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.
So Trump may “tsk tsk” at Israel's actions, but at this point, Trump has largely backed the worst crimes Israel and Netan-Nazi are carrying out.
Israel’s Rampage of Terror—in Historic Palestine and Across the Middle East
Israel’s attack on Qatar—a U.S. ally not in conflict with Israel—broke diplomatic norms, trampled on national sovereignty, and shook the regional order. It raised big questions for other states in the region: Are U.S. security guarantees worth anything? Is there any point to diplomatic engagement with Israel? What, if anything, can the Gulf States do to deal with Israel’s U.S.-backed aggression?
Israel has been rampaging throughout the region violating national sovereignty and committing war crimes wherever and whenever it sees fit. It aims to expand its territory and power through brute force, and radically reshape the Middle East.
Last year it significantly decimated Hezbollah in Lebanon. This June it fought a major “12-day war” against Iran. In recent weeks, Israel has not only escalated its genocide in Gaza, and violent ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, it has launched strikes in Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.
This regional rampage is being further fueled by Trump’s largely blank-check backing for Israel, with arms, intelligence, diplomatic support and more.
Its attack on Qatar—which Qatar’s prime minister called “an act of state terror”—was a dramatic escalation of this campaign. It sent the message that no country in the region is beyond its reach—“from Pakistan to Morocco and from Turkey to Sudan,” as one analyst put it.
Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza and its regional war are threatening major conflicts, even wars. Here are some of the flash points:
Yemen: Israel has escalated its attacks on this impoverished country, assassinating the Houthi prime minister and other top officials in Yemen’s capital Sana’a in August. On September 10, Israeli air strikes killed 35 and wounded 131. This included 25 journalists who were massacred when Israel targeted the offices of two newspapers, Al-Yemen and 26 September.3
Syria: On September 9, the same day it hit Qatar, Israel’s air force bombed several targets in central Syria, including the coastal city of Latakia and the historic city of Palmyra. Syria’s Foreign Ministry called Israel’s latest strikes “a blatant infringement” of Syrian sovereignty. Israel has carried out over 97 operations against Syria in 2025, according to monitoring groups, a significant escalation.
Lebanon: Officials in Lebanon say at least five people were killed and five others were wounded on September 8 as Israeli warplanes struck parts of the eastern Beqaa Valley. It’s Israel’s latest violation of a ceasefire deal signed with Lebanon last November.4
Turkey: Turkey and Israel are increasingly clashing over Hamas’ presence in Turkey and their rivalry for influence in Syria. According to an op-ed in Haaretz (“Turkey Could Be Next in Israel's Cross-hairs After Qatar. The Consequences? Catastrophic”), Israel’s security service “announced last week that it thwarted a Turkey-based Hamas cell's plot to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ankara quickly denied involvement. But the revelation raised an explosive question: Could Turkey have a hand in helping Hamas assassinate an Israeli minister? If the plot had succeeded, Israel could have interpreted it as an act of war.”
“If all-out war breaks out amid rising tensions between Turkey and Israel,” Haaretz concludes, “the result would be not just another Middle Eastern conflict or a one-off Doha style strike, but a strategic earthquake that alters the global balance of power.”
Egypt: There are also escalating tensions between Israel and Egypt over the presence of Hamas figures in Egypt, and the possibility that Israel will try to drive displaced Gazans across the border into Egypt. “Any attempt on the lives of Hamas leaders on Egyptian soil would be considered by Egypt as a violation of its sovereignty and, accordingly, a declaration of war by Israel, which we would not hesitate to retaliate against,” an Egyptian security source told Middle East Eye.
On August 19, Middle East Eye revealed that Egypt had deployed around 40,000 troops along the Egyptian border with Gaza to hinder the possible passage of Palestinians into Sinai.
The U.S.: Enabling the Genocidal Slaughter of Palestinians, Increasing the Possibility of Wider War
Every day, these developments underscore and add more urgency to the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian’s warning—and call—in @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #89:
In arming and backing the actions of Israel, the U.S. government is not only enabling the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians but is also increasing the possibility of a war with Iran, and perhaps an even wider and more destructive war…
This once again emphasizes this crucial reality:
We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that we do not have to live this way.
