The Day Sovereignty Died Quietly in the Gulf. From Gaza to Doha: Israel’s War, the Gulf’s Silence

Israel’s strike in Doha was not just a military operation; it was a test of the region’s backbone. As Professor Ahmed Hashim explained, Israeli F-35 Adir stealth fighters almost certainly crossed Jordanian and Saudi skies to launch precision standoff missiles at Hamas negotiators in Qatar. Just as in 1981’s Operation Opera—when Israel flew undetected across Arab airspace to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor—regional states once again watched in silence as their sovereignty was pierced

But unlike 1981, this time the target was not a secret weapons facility. It was a Gulf capital hosting U.S. bases and active ceasefire diplomacy. Israel’s message was clear: borders, allies, even U.S. interests mean little compared to its war aims. The statistics make the picture starker: Gaza has endured over 100,000 tonnes of explosives dropped in 2024 alone, and now faces a Category 5 man-made famine, the first of its kind in modern Middle Eastern history. Nearly two million Palestinians face starvation, while Israel widens its campaign beyond Gaza’s borders.

And yet, Gulf leaders— once proclaimed not acknowledge its skies were used. Saudi Arabia, courted for normalization, swallows the humiliation. Qatar, the direct victim, is left questioning why the largest U.S. base in the region at al-Udeid could not prevent a violation of its territory. The silence is deafening.

And most bitterly ironic of all: even Qatar’s red-carpet welcomes and the parade of prestigious, wildly expensive gifts it showered on Western and Israeli interlocutors could not buy an ounce of security or respect. The silence is deafening.

This is Global Bystander Syndrome in its purest form: Arab regimes too entangled in U.S. patronage, Western leaders too invested in Israeli impunity, all watching as international law is gutted in real time. The children of Gaza starve, aid flotillas are attacked in Tunisian waters, and even Gulf capitals become fair game—yet no one dares to pull the plug. History will not forgive this silence, least of all when Israel’s spiral toward isolation and moral collapse was so obvious, and so preventable.

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