Qatar as an enemy state: From recognition to strategy

JNS, published by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), released an analysis on August 10, 2026 titled 'Qatar as an enemy state: From recognition to strategy' that explicitly characterizes Qatar as an enemy state and discusses the need for a fundamental shift in Israeli and Western policy toward Doha. This is arguably the most aggressively anti-Qatar analysis found around the four-day search period, going beyond criticism of specific Qatari policies to argue that the entire framework of engagement with Qatar should be reconceived around the premise that Doha is an adversary. The analysis argues that the international community, particularly Israel and the United States, should shift from treating Qatar as a problematic partner or neutral mediator to recognizing it as an enemy state, given its documented support for Hamas, its influence operations against Western institutions, and its alignment with adversarial interests. The piece builds the case for enemy-state recognition by cataloguing Qatar's hostile actions: its financing of Hamas including the Nukhba force behind October 7, its hosting of Hamas leadership in luxury in Doha, its operation of Al Jazeera as a global propaganda instrument, its funding of American universities to shape discourse hostile to Israel and the West, its alleged penetration of Israeli government circles through the Qatargate scandal, and its strategic alignment with Iran against Western and Gulf interests. The analysis discusses the strategic implications of recognizing Qatar as an enemy state, arguing that such recognition should drive a comprehensive policy response including sanctions, counter-influence operations, diplomatic isolation, and the exclusion of Qatar from mediation roles in conflicts where its interests are aligned with one party. The piece reflects and amplifies the escalation of rhetoric against Qatar that has been building over recent weeks, including former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett's calls to designate Qatar as an enemy state. The JNS/JISS analysis is significant because it comes from a serious strategic-studies institution and provides an intellectual framework for the harder-line policy toward Qatar that is gaining traction in Israeli and Western security discourse. Its prominence — highlighted by the Counter Extremism Project's August 12 roundup — suggests the enemy-state framing is moving toward the mainstream of policy debate.