Israel Suspends All Defense Exports to Qatar, Including Existing Contracts, N12 Reports

Israel has decided to suspend all of its defense exports to Qatar, including contracts concluded several years earlier that are still being carried out, according to the Israeli channel N12, which revealed the decision. The report describes it as a turning point in relations between the two countries.

According to N12, officials within the Israeli security establishment now describe Qatar as a “bad state that acts against Israel.” The source presents this wording as a sign of how Israeli authorities have changed their view of Doha.

The source sets the decision against Qatar’s regional position. It describes Qatar as a strategic ally of the United States, a host to a major American military base, and a preferred interlocutor in several negotiations concerning Hamas. The same report states that Doha maintains close relations with the Palestinian terrorist movement, including financial ones, and hosts senior Hamas officials on its soil.

Citing foreign publications that Israeli media reported on, the source says Israeli defense companies sold Qatar weapons, defense systems, cyber technologies and air defense equipment over the years, worth several hundred million dollars. These sales were authorized by the competent Israeli authorities, notably the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister. The source therefore places responsibility for the approvals with the Israeli government, and the sales with the companies that made them. Export approval carries weight, and so does the obligation to answer for it (Luke 12:48).

According to the source, the decision means Jerusalem is giving up future business and is also ending contracts that had already been approved and were still being carried out. Until now, the report says, commercial and strategic considerations had allowed Israel to keep security exchanges with Qatar despite very tense political relations. The source states that the new decision reflects a change in that reasoning, with security cooperation with Doha no longer considered compatible with Israeli interests.

N12 reported that the Israeli government does not necessarily regard the decision as final in scope. Sources cited by the channel said it may not be the last step in a review of Israeli policy toward Qatar. The measure could therefore have consequences that extend well beyond the military export sector.

Source: Read the original report (translated from French)