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'Diversion from atrocities': Qatar rejects Netanyahu allegations of 'influence campaign'
'If Netanyahu... wants the world to view Israel differently, [he] should begin by... respecting international law,' said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Majed Al Ansari
- PUBLISHED: Fri 25 Sept 2026, 2:41 PM
Qatar rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's accusation that Doha is "conducting a campaign to influence public opinion against Israel", calling the claim an attempt to "divert attention from [Israel's] atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories".
Dr Majed Al Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Qatar "categorically rejects" the accusation, which Netanyahu made during his address to the United Nations General Assembly.
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"We categorically reject Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation," Al Ansari said. "This continuing rhetoric against Qatar is nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the attrocities committed by his government in the occupied Palestinian territories and their grave humanitarian consequences."
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He also dismissed claims that the growing shift in global public opinion, particularly among young people, was the result of “influence campaigns”.
He said people were forming their views based on what they were witnessing in real time, arguing that attributing the change to outside influence “is an insult to the awareness and judgment” of a generation witnessing events on the ground.
"If Netanyahu and other extremist Israeli politicians, who increasingly find themselves addressing empty halls, want the world to view Israel differently, they should begin by changing their policies, stopping breaches of and respecting international law, and taking responsibility before the people who elected them, rather than searching for scapegoats to blame for Israel’s deteriorating global image," Al Ansari stressed.
He added that attempts to blame Qatar or others for the shift in global public opinion were no longer persuasive.
"These repeated attacks on Qatar can only be understood as an effort to divert attention from political responsibility for policies and practices on the ground, while exploiting Qatar as part of domestic political calculations," he stressed.
