U.S.-Israel bashing at the Qatar-sponsored Doha Forum

OPINION:

Arab and progressive activists, think-tankers and government officials gathered this month in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, days after the United States used its veto in the U.N. Security Council to kill a demand for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Held annually since 2003, the Doha Forum is sponsored by Qatar, the tiny but wealthy Muslim nation that prides itself on its well-intentioned but often misunderstood efforts to ameliorate the differences and disputes within the Middle East and between the Muslim world and the West.

To say that the attendees this year were upset would be an understatement, as from the stage and in the halls, speakers and attendees were in almost unanimous agreement that Israel, with U.S. backing, is engaged in genocide against innocent Palestinians whose land the Jews have occupied since the West created the state of Israel.

Speakers ignored the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis or the rapes and hostage-taking that led to Israel’s decision to rid itself of the Gaza-based terrorist group. To listen to the speakers, panelists and attendees, one would have to conclude that little of note happened on Oct. 7 and the Israelis, without provocation, launched a campaign against the innocent civilians of Gaza, killing thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of men, women and children simply striving to survive in that tortured city.

No one mentioned or even referred to the fact that Hamas had over the years built an intricate, miles-long tunnel system under Gaza with hidden entrances, often in or near schools and hospitals, from which they could fire missiles at Israel or vanish into after just the sort of terror attack, they launched on Oct. 7.

Since no one admitted any of these things happened, they didn’t need to justify any of it. They could, instead, spend two days decrying Israel’s “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” “murder” and “genocide,” with speaker after speaker demanding accountability for what’s going on there now and the liberation of the occupied territories.

Many Americans were in attendance, along with a thousand or so guests from around the world, and most of them agreed with the theme. The Chinese were there, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while confined to Moscow with COVID-19, appeared by satellite to join in the denunciation of the West.

Until South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham took to the microphone, Mr. Lavrov was the only speaker to refer to and condemn Hamas for the initial attack as he quickly shifted the blame for the whole thing to the U.S.

Mr. Graham was having none of it. He defended Israel and asked why the Hamas atrocities were being ignored, why there had been no acknowledgment of Hamas’ oft-stated desire to destroy Israel and kill her inhabitants and why the sponsors of the forum had shown a video of the destruction in Gaza without acknowledging that it had been produced and provided not by independent observers or reporters but by Hamas itself.

I’ve attended a number of international conferences in Europe, Asia and the Middle East over the years and have been forced to listen as each of the participants and speakers blamed the United States for the problems of the world. In one sense, this one was no different, although the reality of war unleashed always and understandably makes the atmosphere more heated.

I attended my first conference in Doha 20 years ago. After the typical U.S. bashing, a brave man stood up and managed to get the microphone to ask a question. He informed his fellow attendees that he was from Darfur and was disappointed to hear speaker after speaker suggest that if “the United States would just leave and take the Jews with them, peace and prosperity would reign, but as thousands in my country and are dying, I have to wonder why the only peoples trying to stop the killing and save the innocent are the United States and those Jews we are supposed to hate.”

The attendees at that conference had no answer for the man from Darfur then and had no answer for Lindsey Graham this month.

• David Keene is editor-at-large at The Washington Times.