Trump’s Love Affair With Qatar Deepens

Yesterday the White House revealed an executive order by President Trump granting Qatar a sweeping U.S. security guarantee. This unprecedented pact echoes nato’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, committing the U.S. to treat any armed attack on the Gulf state as a direct threat to U.S. peace and security and to defend it with “all lawful and appropriate measures”—potentially even military action.

The promise is difficult to understand apart from the outsized influence Qatar has within the Trump administration, thanks to its buying favor from people close to the president. After all, it cites the need to protect Qatar from “continuing threats … posed by foreign aggression.” As Gregg Roman wrote at Middle East Forum,

The question is, what threats? What foreign aggression? The state of Qatar is not a victim in the Middle East; it is a source of the instability that plagues the region.

It appears the guarantee could be triggered by an attack such as Israel launched on Doha three weeks ago, targeting Hamas leaders. That strike killed a Qatari security officer and five Hamas affiliates, arousing Trump’s anger and squeaking an apology of sorts out of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Qatar hosts 10,000 U.S. troops at Al Udeid Air Base, America’s largest Middle East installation. But its status as a U.S. ally is wholly undermined by its ties to Hamas, the Taliban, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and its terrorist offshoots. The Qataris bear direct responsibility for atrocities like the October 7 massacre.

Gerald Flurry wrote a blistering critique of President Trump cozying up to Qatar in our July Trumpet issue, “Don’t Accept Gifts From Terrorists”:

These terrorists are also liars who will flatter and say whatever is expedient to accomplish their aims. Proverbs 17:4 warns, “A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips ….” We must not have anything to do with such people!

It is truly concerning how Trump is nurturing this relationship at the same time he is presenting himself as a friend of Israel. It is a stern reminder of the dangers in trusting in man rather than in God (Jeremiah 17:5-9)—a foundational lesson that Israel, America and the rest of the world will soon learn the hard way.