After Israel’s Strike on Qatar, a Strategic Shift

Oct 20, 2025
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Also published in The Hill
Photo of smoke rising over Doha following an Israeli strike in September 2025.
About the Authors
April Longley Alley
April Longley Alley

Dr. April Longley Alley is a Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute, where her research focuses on Yemen and the Gulf. A leading regional expert with over 15 years of experience in conflict analysis and mediation, she most recently served as the senior expert for the Gulf States and Yemen at the

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla is an Emirati professor of political science and a nonresident senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School.

Articles & Testimony

The silver lining to the Doha attack may be the newfound “Gulf 3” alignment between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, whose wealth, diplomatic clout, and good relations with the Trump administration uniquely position them to help on a wide range of pressing regional issues.

To grasp the importance of Israel’s unprecedented September attack on Hamas negotiators in Doha, just look at President Trump’s decision to sign an executive order guaranteeing Qatar’s security—a startling step for a non-NATO ally. The day before, Trump had pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into giving a rare apology, telling his Qatari counterpart on an Oval Office call that he promised not to conduct more such attacks as Trump looked on. For Arab Gulf states, Israel’s attack on Qatar was a threshold-crossing moment. Many Gulf officials and citizens saw Israel’s strike in downtown Doha as an immediate threat to the region’s security—and their own. Washington raced to reassure its Arab partners, but Israel’s strike risked long-term damage...

Read the full article on the Hill website.

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