OTTAWA — Jewish-Canadian leaders are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take the Emir of Qatar to task over his patronage of Hamas when the two leaders meet face to face in Ottawa this week.
“We trust (Trudeau) will urge the emir to end his support for Hamas, the root cause of the conflict and a major barrier to a two-state solution,” wrote Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in an email to the National Post.
“Qatari-backing sustains Hamas, and without it, the group would cease to be a force,” added Fogel.
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, said he was of a similar mind.
“I hope the prime minister will use the meeting as an opportunity to re-affirm his support for Israel and reiterate his condemnation of Hamas,” Robertson told the National Post by phone.
Robertson called Qatar’s “passive support of Hamas” an impediment to lasting peace in the Middle East.
His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is expected to kick off a two-day visit to Ottawa on Tuesday. According to a government press release, he and Trudeau will speak one-on-one about the war in Gaza.
“I look forward to welcoming His Highness the Emir of Qatar on his first visit to Canada. Our two countries are important partners, and together we will strengthen our ties and create opportunities for our peoples,” Trudeau said in a statement over the weekend.
The emir is one of Hamas’s biggest benefactors, notably setting up the terrorist group’s exiled leaders in luxury digs inside Qatar. He sat in the front row with mourners last month during the funeral of slain Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha.
Kaveh Sharooz, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said that Trudeau’s eagerness to roll out the red carpet for the emir shows that he doesn’t take terrorism as seriously as he should.
“Qatar is one of Hamas’s key financial and political backers. Under Canadian law, providing such support to a listed terror group is a criminal act. And yet the emir is going to be warmly received in Ottawa?” Sharooz told the National Post in an email.
The emir is also the power behind regional media juggernaut Al Jazeera. The Qatari-owned news outlet was booted from Israel in May over accusations of bias in its reporting on the war in Gaza, including repeating Hamas’s debunked claim that Israel bombed a Gaza City hospital in the conflict’s opening days.
Al Jazeera never issued a correction or retraction over its reporting on the Gaza hospital blast.
The emir’s visit will commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Qatar.
A question to the Prime Minister’s Office about when the invitation to visit Canada was first extended to the emir was not answered by deadline.
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