By Sacha Wigdorovits<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BILD.de summed it up perfectly: \u201cMoney for Terror Instead of Fighting Terror,\u201d headlined Germany\u2019s largest online news outlet. The headline referred to the EU\u2019s decision to cut funding to Israel following its attack on five top Hamas leaders in Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is hardly a rogue state in the world that the EU does not court and finance. Only against Israel does EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen take a stand, announcing that all bilateral payments to the Jewish state will be suspended,\u201d BILD.de writes. \u201cThis means that from now on, the EU will send taxpayers\u2019 billions to countries ruled by terrorists or those that support terrorism\u2014but not to the one state that fights terrorists like no other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As examples, BILD.de cites EU aid to Afghanistan (\u20ac141 million), Iran (\u20ac126 million, including \u20ac10 million this year), and the Palestinian Authority, which the EU has pledged \u20ac620 million to this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commentary from Germany\u2019s largest and most popular media outlet concludes: \u201cThe current policy of Ursula von der Leyen and her colleagues is just another in a long line of EU blunders. Instead of sanctioning Russia, Europe filled Putin\u2019s war chest. Instead of confronting the mullah regime, Europe transferred billions. In the fight against terror, Europe once again stands on the wrong side of history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s nothing more to add\u2014except this: Switzerland is no better than the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) also condemned Israel\u2019s strike on the five Hamas leaders in Doha, calling it \u201can unacceptable violation of Qatar\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This, mind you, came just 24 hours after the same department had remained silent when two Palestinian attackers shot and killed six Israelis in Jerusalem. Only the Swiss ambassador to Israel, Simon Geissb\u00fchler, expressed his condolences to the victims and their families\u2014but without condemning the Palestinian terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The example of the EU and Switzerland\u2019s left-leaning FDFA\u2014whose head, Ignazio Cassis, is pro-Israel but too weak to rein in his own officials\u2014illustrates the hypocrisy of European governments in their dealings with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to the Jewish state, double standards prevail like nowhere else. Did the EU impose extra sanctions on Russia after its member state Poland was attacked by Russian drones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And did the Swiss Federal Council harshly rebuke Russia for this \u201cviolation of Poland\u2019s sovereignty\u201d? No. The FDFA merely expressed its \u201cconcern\u201d about the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reactions of the EU and Switzerland to Israel\u2019s strike in Qatar are not just hypocritical\u2014they also reflect a staggering level of ignorance and naivety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar is not some innocent or harmless country. Alongside Iran, it is one of the world\u2019s largest sponsors of terrorism and radical Islamism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without Qatar, Hamas would never have been able to sustain its decades-long campaign of terror against Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top leaders of Hamas\u2014mass murderers\u2014enjoy a billionaire lifestyle in Doha, Qatar\u2019s capital, funded in part by EU, UN, and Swiss aid money intended for the Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s not all. Qatar also sponsors the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas originated. For this reason, Qatar was boycotted between 2017 and 2021 by its Arab \u201cbrother states\u201d: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Muslim Brotherhood is active throughout Europe, including in Switzerland. Under the guise of charitable organizations, it infiltrates and radicalizes Muslim communities wherever it can\u2014with the goal of Islamizing Western society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar also operates the television network Al Jazeera. Its English-language channel presents itself as moderate, but its Arabic-language channel serves as a radical Qatari propaganda outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar is therefore not only a danger to Israel\u2014which it still refuses to officially recognize\u2014but also to the entire West, including Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Russian crimes in Ukraine\u2014and now also in Poland\u2014should not be downplayed. But in the long run, the threat Qatar poses to us is just as great, if not greater, than that of Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar may not threaten us militarily or technologically, but it uses its billions in petrodollars to infiltrate our societies and economies and to buy political goodwill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Examples include hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, buying the top European football club Paris Saint-Germain, investing in the Volkswagen Group, and acquiring stakes in Credit Suisse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most dangerous aspect, however, is Qatar\u2019s political and social infiltration of Europe through organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood. With Qatar\u2019s financial support and blessing, these groups can pursue their insidious mission of radical Islamist indoctrination and infiltration in our midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all this, Qatar\u2019s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, does not act in the spotlight like Russia\u2019s President Putin\u2014he operates quietly and strategically. In the words of Bertolt Brecht: \u201cBecause only those in the light are seen; those in the dark are not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qatar is, in essence, the classic wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing. In Europe, people either haven\u2019t realized this yet\u2014or they don\u2019t want to\u2014because they welcome the flood of dollars, oil, and liquefied natural gas from the Gulf state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel, however, is well aware of Qatar\u2019s double game and the Islamist agenda behind it. The supposedly \u201cselfless\u201d mediation efforts of the Emirate during ceasefire talks with Hamas did nothing to change that. In its strike on the Hamas leaders in Doha, Israel made only one mistake: it failed to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSacha Wigdorovits is the president of the association \u201cFokus Israel und Nahost,\u201d which operates the website fokusisrael.ch. He studied history, German studies, and social psychology at the University of Zurich and worked, among other roles, as a U.S. correspondent for SonntagsZeitung, editor-in-chief of BLICK, and co-founder of the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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