Diva International

Abstract

The Israeli attack on Qatar on 9 September 2025 can be looked at from various perspectives. It is one of a series of spectacular Israeli operations in six countries in the Middle East which fuels the ecstatic fantasies of the radicalizing Israeli public, a station towards the “total victory” against Hamas, but also a signal of dominance sent by Israel to all countries of the region. However, the most relevant and interesting angles of this aggression are the actions and reactions of the United States who largely acts in complementarity of Israeli plans. This article tries to place these events within the context of subjugation of the Arab World and the changing world order.

Background
The Qatari-GCC stage

The Israeli attack against Hamas office in Doha/Qatar on 9 September 2025 was a unique milestone in the long history of wars and conflicts. For the first time in history, a war party attacks the enemy`s negotiating team while discussing a proposal of a mediator in the country of another mediator that had repeatedly hosted both parties and the involved mediator. According to statements of US officials during and following the bombardment, the US was informed shortly before the attack. Technically, this attack would have never been possible without facilitation of the US government and US army surveillance and response network in the region, especially in Qatar. Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, the biggest US airbase in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region was/is housing personnel and assets of the U.S. Air Force, the British Royal Air Force and of the Qatari Airforce. How all these air defence systems were neutralized during the attack is another, technical puzzle.

President Trump expressed his “unhappiness” with the attack, promised it will not happen again, but didn’t prevent or condemned the attack. The following statements and trips of the US Foreign Minister were mainly to demonstrate how strategic the US-Israeli relations are, and to dilute Qatar and GCC reaction, while using the same Israeli rhetoric. Within the UNSC, the United States shared the condemnation (without mentioning Israel by name) and called for ending the war in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages.

The President’s “unhappiness”, yet yielding to Israel aggression against a GCC ally, the repeated statements and threats by Israeli leaders, and the re-assuring statements and gestures made by Secretary of State Rubio towards Israel may thereafter indicate a lasting shift in the mechanics of the joined US-Israel decision making, especially regarding GCC countries, probably adding them to the list of targets in the region under the grace of Israeli might .

The global stage: A world of regions

The “One World” ,vision as declared by President Wilson 1918 and as implemented after WW2 strived a stable global order through global values like individual and collective human rights, self-determination, democracy free trade and global institutions like the United Nations, a cooperative international economic system centred on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The “one world “order was implemented in the non-communist world and was financed by the United States under President Truman following WW2. The opposite vision in the bipolar world order was global socialism (communism), mainly promoted by the Soviet Union.

Following the collapse of communism in 1990, both Russia and China have no abstract visions for a global leadership. The USA defection from/renunciation of the “one world” vision contributes to this vision-less global order, leaving more space for regional ideologies and visions. Despite their dominance, economic/military might, these world superpowers lack any vision for a global world order.

The United States lead by President Trump under logos of “America First” and “Make America Great Again-MAGA” tries to tackle this global challenge, also from a regional perspective. Besides his massive internal radical “reform” agenda which looks divisive and reactionary, the United States administration considers, for the first time since 1947, enlarging its national territories to include Canada, Panama and Greenland/Denmark.

For the US administration under President Trump, this system, including its military alliances, is too expensive and increasingly incompatible with the US perceived sovereignty. The US significantly reduced external aid and even started to ask some countries to pay back their aid. Instead of simultaneously acting through the (one) global and (multiple) country levels, regions may have been identified as the functional level for US action. In this system of regions, the United States itself manages (tries to manage) north and south America and Europe as its own region.

The war on the Ukraine demonstrated the inability of Europe to act as an independent global superpower and has been treated like an US dependant partner.

African countries, mainly in neocolonial phase are organized around the Organization of African Unity (OAU) based in Addis Ababa with rising leadership role for Republic of South Africa, besides Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Russia is to manage the newly independent states and parts of Europe (including parts of the Ukraine) and China, the rising giant superpower, is to be contained in Asia (South-East Asia and Western Pacific).

Besides being the main global manufacturer and central part of the global chain production, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), (the New Silk Road), in 2013 to link East Asia and Europe through physical infrastructure, has expanded from Eurasia to Africa, Oceania, and even to Latin America, significantly broadening China’s economic and political influence, also in the US regional domain.

The war in Historical Palestine and the Arab-Islamic block

In this regionalization perspectives, the US (and some members of the global West) sees Israel as the hub of the Middle East. For decades, Israel is favourably treated as non-EU member within the EU, is the biggest recipient of US aid (USD 150 billion as of 2022) and was the first beneficiary of the US free trade agreement. In the military field, Israel received between 2,5-3.8 billion annually . Israel power in the region is based on strategic superiority and atomic monopoly.
Strategic superiority implies that at any point in time, Israel should have superior and more ready to use conventional weapons (military planes, tanks and fire power) than all surrounding countries and potential enemies together.

Cornerstones are the US-EU subsidized high-tech military industry and a dominant Israeli Army equipped with the latest global inventions in military sector. Whenever this balance is disturbed, the West, especially the USA intervened (like in Syria, Libya and Iraq) to restore this superiority.

Atomic monopoly is manifested in the destruction of atomic capacities in Iraq and Libya and in the siege of western powers on Iran’s atomic program while guarding the informal Israel’s arsenal of atomic bombs and their carriers.

The Arab-Islamic Region (51 member states including 20 Arab states and Palestine) encompasses countries with highest and lowest GDP worldwide. Rich oil producing Arab countries are under US protection, while others are critically dependant on or indebted to US and Western assistance. It also includes several war-torn, fragile and failed states and can as such be labelled as failed region
Under the Trump Administration, the US ceased to claim the role of a mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict and openly became a war party. While the US and Israel are publicly discussing the annexation of the West Bank, the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the “Gaza Riviera”, and repeatedly promote “Greater Israel”, members of Arab Islamic block remain unable to collectively act. They frequently compete over non-responsibility, ultimately referring the entire issue to the “International Community”. This weightlessness permitted the USA and its allies to progressively work to transfer the region from the Arab Unity system around Egypt to a “Middle East” security system around Israel. The Israeli aggression against Qatar can be seen as the official inauguration of this system shift.

Not a mere satellite/ally: who controls whom?

In Europe, longing to and remembrance of the “glorious” colonial past, the deeply imbedded resentment towards the Orient (including Islamophobia) and the white race supremacist ideology are cross-cutting motives for the Western support to Israel. Israel is proudly seen as front bastion successfully “doing the dirty work” on behalf of the West .

The Israel-lobby (AIPAC) in the United States is extremely effective and is believed to have major long-standing influence on most of the US Congress and government members. However, non-Jewish Christian Zionism is an older, much bigger and more influential ideological streaming especially among the Republican party with a huge voter base in what is called the “Bible Belt” in southern USA. Although Non-Jewish Zionism ultimately aims at converting or eliminating Jews after the “second Return of Messiah”, both Jewish and non-Jewish Zionist lobbies ensure direct unbroken support of Israel against international laws, under all conditions. Non- Jewish Zionism is not limited to the United States.

Killing its own order

The USA under President Trump, is trying to reverse many of the American ideals in and outside the United States. To reduce the trade deficit, the US introduced high tariffs against many countries, which responded by introducing tariffs against US goods. This economic war involves Americas’ allies in Europe and beyond and is weakening its political and military alliances. Tariffs against India recently angered and pushed the country nearer to China.

While mistrusting multilateral institutions in general (including NAFTA, EU, NATO), targeting the United Nations seems to be on the agenda of the US administration during the Trump presidency. With 22%, the US is the main funder of the United Nations system in 2025, followed by China (20,004%) . Aside from financial cuts, the Trump administration has already pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), effective 2026, from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and announced its intention to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). The United States issues a series of punitive orders against judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes, including “starvation as a method of warfare” and crimes against humanity. The US sharply criticized and threatened governments who recognize the Palestinian State (around 150 states), including many European countries, historical US allies.

In violation of the US-UN HQ agreement of 1947 , the US-State Department has denied or revoked visas for the Palestinian Authority delegation, preventing its attendance at the UNGA in New York in September 2025 . The State Department considers similar visa denials for other countries as well .

The current administration is extreme in showing lack of respect to partners sovereignty and independence as happened during the famous White House reception by President Trump of the Ukrainian President Zelensky in February 2025, during visit of the Jordanian King Abdullah, his reception of African leaders and of the main European leaders on Ukraine in June 2025.

Conclusions

The recent Israeli Doha attack and the following threats shows that the US protection of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) is only limited to face threats coming from Arab or Muslim countries. A closer look shows that the entire region around Qatar and the GCC, previously supported/protected by the US alone, are currently being targeted/ handled by Israel. The Doha attack may inaugurate the outsourcing by the US of the entire region, including GCC to Israel.

On the other side, the Doha attack may be a wakeup call to all GCC countries to urgently focus on their own military defence power and to foster military defence cooperation with other Arab and Muslim countries. The Saudi-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) , signed eight days after the Doha attack, may be more than a signal.