U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters five times on Sunday aboard Air Force One that Qatar, which has long housed Hamas leaders, is a “great ally.”
Asked if he had a message for the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who is also the state’s foreign affairs minister, Trump said, “look, we’re with them. They’ve been a great ally.”
“A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally. They also lead a very difficult life, because they’re right in the middle of everything,” Trump said, per the White House pool report. “So they have to be a little bit politically correct in their terms, but I will tell you. They’ve been a great ally for the United States.”
Reporters also asked Trump if he had a message for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“They have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States. A lot of people don’t know that,” Trump said. “I told the emir, who I think is a wonderful person, actually. I said you need better public relations, because you don’t really get the public relations.”
“I mean, people talk of it so badly, and they shouldn’t be,” the U.S. president said. “Qatar has been a very great ally, so Israel and everybody else, we have to be careful. When we attack people, we have to be careful.”
Last week, the United States made a rare decision when it joined 14 United Nations Security Council member states in a press statement decrying Israel for striking Hamas leaders in Doha.
