Israel’s assassination of Hamas negotiators in Doha this week has crossed a line that even its closest Arab partners cannot ignore. Israel has long justified pre-emptive and extraterritorial strikes as necessary for its security. Over the course of two years, in response to the 7 October attacks by Hamas, it has struck at six countries in the region (including Palestine), seeking to eradicate all threats to its security. But hitting the capital of Qatar, a wealthy Gulf monarchy, a security partner and non-Nato ally of the US, and the site of painstaking negotiations between Israel and Hamas at the behest of Washington, is not simply another targeted killing. It represents a fundamental shift where Arab states no longer see Iran as the only principal destabiliser of the region. Today, they see Israel as destabilising too.
This is not the first time Israel has struck while negotiations and diplomatic efforts have been under way. Over those two years, high-profile assassinations and strikes have been carried out in Lebanon against Hezbollah, in Syria, increasing tensions with the newly formed al-Sharaa government, in Yemen, targeting the Houthis, and against Iran, over the 12-day June war when Tehran was negotiating with Washington. The strikes have often been timed to derail talks or demonstrate Israel’s refusal to separate diplomacy from coercion. The Doha strike fits that pattern, but its symbolism will have long-term effects.
