“It was Britain that made the concessions, committing to share its classified intelligence and expertise with the Qatari state, and agreeing to work more closely with its security forces.” David Cameron appears to be intent on driving Britain off a cliff. If it survives his rule, and Britain remains a free state, future generations will see him as one of the most disastrous Prime Ministers in British history, and possibly the worst ever.
“Britain has sold its soul with the Qatari deal,” by Andrew Gilligan, the Telegraph, November 7, 2014 (thanks to Jen):
Cars bearing the logos of Islamic State (Isil) drive around the streets. Within sight of the city centre lies the only official overseas mission of the Taliban. Jihadis sowing instability in perhaps 15 countries, from Algeria to Pakistan, direct their operations from pleasant villas in the suburbs – or, in the case of the terror group Hamas, from suites in the best hotels, where they can sometimes be seen relaxing by the pool.
The mosques host some of the world’s most influential extremist ideologues, their words pinged round the globe via their personal television channels. Hundreds of millions of pounds flow to organisations defined by Britain as terrorist, much of it from the government itself.
An official of that government, Salim Hasan Khalifa Rashid al‑Kuwari, channelled many such dollars to al-Qaeda while working for the interior ministry, according to the US Treasury department. The foreign minister’s cousin was detained in Lebanon, also for financing al-Qaeda; he was then convicted in his absence, after his government reportedly applied intense pressure on Lebanon to free him before trial.
This is Qatar, the country with which David Cameron has just signed a defence and security agreement. Did the deal, perhaps, include a promise by the Qataris to stop this sort of behaviour? Did it commit Qatar to end its support for the Islamist militias who have helped reduce Libya to anarchy, or to kick out the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood? It did not.
In fact, it was Britain that made the concessions, committing to share its classified intelligence and expertise with the Qatari state, and agreeing to work more closely with its security forces. We were told that Mr Cameron would talk tough at his meeting with the Emir of Qatar last week. Instead, he seems to have spent much of his time asking for money….
Part of the problem is that Qatar’s definition of terrorism is narrower than most other people’s. The Emir’s protestation, in September, that “we don’t fund extremists”, is preposterous, given the tens of millions of pounds that the Qatari government has paid directly to Hamas.
Hamas has, of course, killed hundreds of civilians in suicide bombings and missile strikes; it seeks the destruction of Israel; it is banned as a terrorist organisation in every democracy on earth. But Hamas, by Qatari standards, is not an extremist or terrorist group. “I know that in America and some countries they look at some movements as terrorist movements,” the Emir explained. “But there are differences.”
It is not just Qatar that is failing to learn the right lessons: we are, too. Britain is a great, wealthy country. It doesn’t need to bend the knee to pocket dictatorships with suitcase-sized bank balances. But in so many ways the UK has sold its soul (and a lot of its soil) to dubious foreign money….