Why is our government hosting Qatar while threatening Israeli leaders with arrest?

There have been so many incidents that have seemed upside down since October 7 that sometimes it is all too much to bear. The celebrations in the street on October 8, the way the BBC keeps parroting Hamas lies, the fact that the murder of Israelis led to record antisemitism in the UK, the Jew hate marching down our streets every weekend while the police watch on. I could go on.

But few examples have been more stark, in my eyes, than what is happening this week.

Yesterday I watched our Prime Minister tell a Labour Friends of Israel lunch that his government stands behind the ‘independence’ of the ICC to issue warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. That means – however much they are presently pussyfooting around the issue - our government will attempt to arrest the Israeli politicians should they step foot on UK soil.

Meanwhile, just a day later, we are literally rolling out the red carpet for the leaders of Qatar, the nation which has for years, housed and funded Hamas.

So eager are our leaders to show a huge welcome to the Qataris that the poor Princess of Wales disturbed her cancer recovery to be dragged out to Horse Guard Parade, joining King Charles, Prince William and the Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the first of his three wives.

A lunch, golden carriages and a fancy pants Buckingham Palace state banquet await. But I’m thinking about the British hostage Emily Damari. Who knows what her last meal was? What rags she is dressed in? Has anyone even mentioned Emily to the Sheikh as they gladhand and grin in photographs with him?

Let me repeat: Qatar is the country which has both housed and supported Hamas as well as many other Muslim Brotherhood terror networks. They are a danger to the world.

There is an irony too that of the many things Israel is accused of doing, Qatar gets away with barely a peep from the sanctimonious crew.

Just a few years ago, it bought a World Cup, used slave labour to create the arenas and we stood by and let it happen. Controversial Qatari minister Nasser Al-Khelaifi – not only runs top French team Paris Saint Germain but is also chairman of the European Club Association, making him one of the most influential people in European football. Visit Qatar is an official sponsor of the UEFA Euros 2024 and 2028.

And on greenwashing, how is a country which owes its huge wealth to being one of the largest exporters of liquefied natural gas being hosted by one of the most famous eco-warrior families in the world? Not even Just Stop Oil, the eco-militants who march with the Palestinian cause every weekend seem to be bothered by this visit – where are their protests?

The country’s influential Al Jazeera news network has 70 bureaus and broadcasts a diet of anti-Western material to 150 countries with an audience of approximately 430 million people. This is a hostile voice – one that America and Israel had the good sense to close down.

And where to start with their human rights record? Qatar is a country where you can be locked up for criticising the Emir, where hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have next to no rights, where women need the permission of a male guardian on whether she can marry, study or travel, and where gay people are jailed for their sexual orientation.

Yes, yes, I understand the concept of realpolitik, where we have to make nice with people who are rich and powerful. Israel even allowed Qatar to fund Hamas in the hope that prosperity for Palestinians would lead to peace. But one has to question how much Qatar knew about what Hamas was actually spending the money on?

Qatar’s billions have long allowed it to walk a tightrope as mediator. While housing the Hamas political leadership, and helping Iran bypass sanctions, it is also considered a US ally with 11,000 military personnel on the Al-Udeid airbase.

The Qataris were at the heart of the first and only Israel/ Hamas ceasefire deal which saw the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners. But a year on, it has achieved nothing more.

Meanwhile, we in the UK have allowed Qatar to buy up huge swathes of our nation – an incredible £40bn worth – with stakes in everything from Heathrow and Barclays to the Ritz, the Savoy, Harrods, and even become the largest stakeholder in Sainsbury’s.

Perhaps that is why we have this sickening spectacle of our royal family allowing the Sheikh into Buckingham Palace with open arms. It feels insane to me.

And any morals we pretended to have as a nation have been sold down a diamond-encrusted river of carpeted red.