Tucker and Qatar’s Prime Minister React to Trump’s Move Against Bibi

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0:4321 plus in present and select states. First online real money wager only. Minimum$5 wager required for 7 consecutive days. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expires 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at fanduel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. Thank you, Sheikh Mohammed, for doing this. Have you been reading the coverage on American social media of this? Well, actually, I've been going through some of them this morning, and I saw a lot of contradicting messages. Pretty intense, I'd say.

1:18This country is being denounced as a terror state, terror financing. very high volume, lots of attacks, including from politicians, sitting U.S. senators, Ted Cruz, for example. And the main criticism seems to revolve around Hamas, and the idea is that your country, and you specifically, are supporters of Hamas, you're terror financers. And I'd like to just get right to the truth of that. So my understanding is Hamas is here in Doha because the United States and Israel asked you to host Hamas. Is that true? And if not, what is the truth about Hamas in Doha? Well, thank you. Thank you, Tucker. First of all, look, the starting of the relationship with Hamas and the communication was started back more than 10 years, 13 years ago at the request of the United States.

2:18even beyond that, like it was 19 years ago when they first participated in the election and then when they moved their office back in 2012 here, it was used only for the communication and to facilitate like ceasefire, facilitating aids to Gaza. Now, unfortunately, Qatar has been attacked for having them here, but when you look at what's happening within the region, this region when you look at its conflict it has the parties of the conflict sometimes they are state actors sometimes they are non-state actors if you have no one speaking to those non-state actors how we are going to resolve or to reach to a solution at the end of the day and now we have seen that this communication has led to ceasefires has led to the release of the hostages has led to elevating the suffering of the people over there and unfortunately you know So there are politicians who are trying to use this to score short-term political gains to fuel their narratives in order to use Qatar to blame another country for what's happening over there or for their wrong policies.

3:32All our aid and all our support and financing that went and what they claim that went to Hamas went to Gaza, went to the people, and it was under a very transparent process that the United States is fully aware about. Israel is the one facilitating, and it's not one government. It was across governments. Netanyahu, Bennett, we have dealt with all the agencies. Lapid was a prime minister at a certain point of time. Mossad, Shembet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the defense, all of them, they were involved in these aids and the delivery of those aids. So today, when they are claiming that this financing of, this is the financing of Qatar to Hamas, it has no basis.

4:15It's just a way to spread this information about a country that doesn't do anything for them, but it's doing things that are against their policies. If you just go to Qatar records with its engagement with the United States for the last 20 years or 30 years, Qatar has never went to the United States and And encouraging them to bomb this country or to support this group or to that group. We've been always in our dialogues with the United States about how we de-escalate the region, how we bring peace to the region. And this peace cannot happen without an engagement with everyone in the region. Well, I'm confused then.

4:57If you hosted Hamas here and sent money to Gaza, both of those things at the request of the US government and the Israeli government, successive Israeli governments, why did Israel bomb your country? Well, it's, I don't know if there is, I don't know if, you know, if any of the actions that's been, like, or many of the actions that's been taken, been justified or rationalized or even, like, were ethical actions. But in a principle, even you have a mediator, you know the concept of mediation is like a safe place for the conflicted parties to achieve a deal to end wars and to end conflicts and to have the mediator being bombed by one of the parties of the conflict this has been unprecedented and i've said that many times that this is you know it's not only an unethical move it's it's just you know throwing everything like you know against the wall like throwing the international law, throwing the respect of the sovereignty of any other country.

6:06Besides, you know, ethically it's not really acceptable or no one can swallow it. No. And the aftermath was also unprecedented. So President Trump basically told the Israelis to apologize to you. He took your side, he took the side of an Arab country against Israel in this specific case. I don't think I've ever seen that before. I don't think it's ever happened before. What was your reaction to that? Well, of course, President Trump was very clear from the beginning since the attack. Actually, when he was informed about the attack, he assigned one of his advisors to reach out to us. And at the same time, he called his highness after the attack and he expressed his frustration, his disappointment from such a thing that's happening by Israel.

7:10Because he knows everything about the process and he knows how helpful we were throughout this process. and you know this kind of move was shocking for him as you know a partner in these efforts and these endeavors to achieve peace in Gaza and at that time actually when the strike happened it was happening while we were trying to convince Hamas to accept the offer was made by President Trump at that time to convince them to engage, to convince them to get a deal before the 20 points being developed when the attack happened. So you're saying that President Trump was surprised by the bombing of Doha by the Israelis.

8:01Of course, it was his peace process that was short-circuited by their bombing using American money. You're saying that the president didn't know that was going to happen. He was surprised. He called us right away. His advisors reached out to us. They reached out to us just a couple of minutes before the attack, which was like the attack was already happening. So it was a very clear demonstration with all the actions that this is something happened against his will, and he doesn't accept it. and he made it very clear for everyone that this is like a red line, that he doesn't want anyone to cross it, and we highly value that and appreciate it.

8:48I'm just pressing you on this because there were news accounts in the subsequent days, the next day, the day after, in Israel saying, no, the Israeli government did this, the prime minister did this, with the agreement of Donald Trump. This was part of Donald Trump's plan was to bomb Doha, bomb his own peace negotiations. And you're saying that's not true. Well, I think this is one of many efforts to sabotage the relationship between Qatar and the United States. And they want us to believe that. And I think that, you know, these efforts are not new to us. We have seen a lot of efforts ongoing for years now on, you know, based on disinformation and spreading lies and false information about Qatar in order to hurt the relationship between Qatar and the United States, which we see it from our perspective as mutually beneficial for both countries.

9:42Because we advocate for something different than what our adversaries advocate. Our adversaries advocating for escalation, for bombing, for controlling. but we advocate for resolving conflict in diplomatic way, trying to stabilize the region, and that has been Qatar policy since inception. So you said that your country has sent money to Gaza for humanitarian reasons, that's your position, basically paying to help the people who are being bombed by Israel. Now there's the question of who rebuilds Gaza, which is of course been completely destroyed, and who pays for it. And I wonder, I don't wonder, I just imagine with total certainty that you will be asked to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.

10:35Why would you do that? Why would you rebuild a region that's been destroyed by a country that also bombed you? Well, look, Tucker, here, you know, there is like a very, let's say, like an ironic situation when you look at like two conflicts happening at the same time and you are hearing like many about when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that Russia should fund all the reconstruction and their assets should be seized to fund all the reconstruction of Ukraine. while when you are talking about Gaza and Israel you know flattened this land and you said you say that Israel has the responsibility to rebuild what it's destroyed they will tell you no you will have as a region you will have the responsibility to to do so and it's really a very ironic double standards when when you look at it from our side as a state of father we will continue supporting the Palestinian people, we will do whatever to alleviate their suffering.

11:44But we are not the ones who are going to write the check to rebuild what others destroy. That's basically our position. But also, we will not let the Palestinian people at the drive if they are not helped or they are not funded. I should say from an American perspective, it's even more grotesque. So you are asked to pay for the destruction and for the rebuilding. This is like, it's a little much. But you're saying clearly that your country will not pay to rebuild what Israel destroyed. That's our position. Our position is that our payments will go only to help the Palestinian people if we see that the help is coming to them is insufficient.

12:24That's basically our position. What happens to the current residents of Gaza? Do they stay in Gaza? I know there's an effort to find some other country to send them to, either in Asia or Sudan or Milwaukee, but do they stay in Gaza? Well, I think that it's hurting us when we hear people talking about the people of Gaza as some sort of different people because they have the right to have the choice where to live. And they don't want to leave their country. and we have seen these demonstrations like in many occasions when we see the opening between the south and the north of Gaza, we see the mass return of the people to their homes, even if their homes are flattened and gone.

13:18They just go there and build it. And this is just showing you how solid are those people, how resilient are those people, how those people, they don't want to leave the land that they belong to. and I don't see anyone has the right to deport them or to force them to go somewhere else. It's their country, it's their home, and they have all the right to stay there and to live there. Yeah, the idea of moving millions of people by force into another country, you know, has been discredited, I would say, historically. What big picture, this is a question that remains unanswered in the United States, like what is the plan here exactly in the Levant?

14:05What is Israel's plan? What is the strategy? I understand it's, you know, defeating Hamas and Hezbollah. You know, I understand the short-term goals that are often articulated, but what does this look like in 10 years? What is the, like, the object? Do you have any idea? Well, I think, you know, if we look at the situation currently, I have mentioned that yesterday, the situation currently is not something that can survive for long and being stable. Now, the issue that if the Israeli forces remain there, if the violations remain happening in Gaza, this conflict can escalate again. And that's what all of us, we want to avoid.

14:58The best plan is to apply what's been already agreed on in the plan that President Trump has launched. has launched and the countries in the region has supported to rebuild Gaza for the Gaza people, for the Gaza people to remain there, but also finding a particular solution for the bigger issue. Because if you keep this issue unresolved, the Palestinian issue unresolved, you know, things will escalate again and again. We cannot build a house without building the foundation of that house. And the foundation of that house is that the Palestinian people get their rights for their states, and they have the right to stay in their own land.

15:47From an outside perspective, it seems like the prospect of full rights internally or a separate and autonomous Palestinian state, those seem like more remote than ever. That seems less likely than ever to happen. But maybe I'm reading it wrong. Well, unfortunately, you know, peace needs, you know, a partner also for that. With the current configuration in Israel and what we are seeing in the political landscape there in the Knesset and all those resolutions that they are passing against the two-state solution is just, you know, setting us apart from this path which is unfortunate to see that there is no enforcement to push them that this is the only path forward to have a two-state solution we cannot you know remain hostage to the far-right and extremist agenda to like ethnically cleanse the Palestinian or to kick them out of their lands.

16:57And what we are looking for, we are looking for two countries, two people living side by side peacefully and being part of the region. And that's what the entire region is aspiring for. It is widely believed in Washington that Israel will initiate another war against Iran in this coming year, 2026. I don't know if that's true. Do you believe it is true? Well, let's hope not. I think that it's very important to try to find a way to reactivate the talks on the nuclear and to see a track of diplomacy. Because right now what we are seeing, there is an absence of any efforts in resolving the issue diplomatically.

17:40And as we have mentioned many times that anything would happen to Iran, it will have its impact on the entire region, on the entire Gulf region. Qatar, Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, all the countries will be affected with such a thing. And I hope not. But, you know, there is a lot of uncertainty of what's happening in the region right now. We see Lebanon bombing is continuing while what supposedly the war has ended. We see Gaza bombing is still continuing while there is a ceasefire is ongoing. So it all depends on how can we make sure that Israel stops at this level and doesn't escalate further.

18:28One of the reasons I openly admire you despite much criticism and was grateful to interview you today is because your country acts as a kind of neutral zone around the world, not just in your region. Switzerland no longer being non-aligned, unfortunately. It's fallen to your country to be the place where people can negotiate conflicts to peace, settlement. You're doing that in Eastern Europe with Russia, Ukraine. You helped get Evan Gershkovic out of prison in Russia. I don't know if you've gotten credit for that. God bless you for doing that. Do you see that conflict as moving toward resolution?

19:06Well, I think that there are a lot of hope in the current endeavor that's carried out by the United States to reach to a resolution. Because I believe that this war has become very disruptive, not only for Europe and not only for the Ukrainians, it's becoming disruptive for the entire world and it's just polarizing the world more and more. and this is not in anyone's interest and it has its consequences. Right now we see relentless efforts by the U.S. administration in order to achieve a deal and the Ukrainians are engaging in this process and we are trying our best also whenever we are needed to help and to support within that process.

19:56But I believe it is solvable. It can be achieved. It's not something impossible. So last question. I've been personally, not to make it about me, but I have been criticized as being a tool of Qatar. And I just want to say what you already know, which is I've never taken anything from your country and don't plan to. I am, however, tomorrow buying a place in Qatar. Please pay a high check. In Doha, yeah. And I'm doing that because I like the city. I think it's beautiful. but also to make the statement that I'm an American and a free man and I'll be wherever I want to be which I think is important but that does kind of leave us in a place where I have not taken any money from Qatar I have instead given money to Qatar and I wonder if you feel that that means I've bought you and you will now spew my propaganda thank you just ask me whatever you want me to do for you I will do it but look Tucker unfortunately as I told you that there are a lot of players putting a lot of efforts to sabotage the relationship between Qatar and the United States and to try to demonize anyone who will come to this country our efforts when we are lobbying or doing you know our outreach in the United States is to make sure that this relationship is safeguarded and the relationship for us is mutually beneficial.

21:29We are not getting aid from the United States. Instead, we are buying from the United States. We are partnering with them. We are investing in the United States. The United States is investing in Qatar. And this relationship has been always a two-way relationship. and we pay all these amounts for lobbying only to protect and to safeguard this relationship. If we were not being attacked and under a lot of disinformation campaign that's been unfortunately funded by other players who doesn't want to see a U.S.-Qatar relationship flourish, we wouldn't we would spend this money for better things you know to do with with the relationship shake moment thank you so much for taking the time to do this i appreciate it