Israel’s Attack on Qatar Shows What Gulf States Have Yet to Grasp
Posted on September 18, 2025 by Curro Jimenez
It’s a cruel irony that Qatar has been bombed twice in the last three months by two sworn enemies, first by Iran and then by Israel. Neither has received kinetic retaliation from the very power supposedly guaranteeing Qatar’s security: the U.S. This signals a shift in the world order that Israel has already understood, but which Gulf states are only now beginning to grasp.
Israel’s attack on Qatar has exposed the fragility of the Gulf states’ security system, based on U.S. protection as its power declines. As John Mearsheimer argues, Israel does not have territorial ambitions within the Gulf, but it certainly has hegemonic ones. Through the Abraham Accords, Israel aims to normalize relations, as it has done with the UAE, but under the rubric of its own superiority.
Hegemony in the Middle East is what Israel is after by establishing a “Greater Israel,” expelling Palestinians from it, and balkanizing its direct neighbors. This puts Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt at risk. It is also why Israel will likely attack Iran again—perhaps, many analysts suggest, before the year’s end. Turkey is also on the horizon, and its government is taking note.
Israel wants to establish itself as the regional hegemon, and is already behaving like one, backed by the United States. The U.S. wants to disengage from the Middle East—to “end the endless wars”—while leaving it in the hands of a friendly power, and so far, that power is Israel. That is why Washington will not restrain Israel and will do nothing more than issue symbolic rebukes when it bombs its own allies.
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