Qatar just called Netanyahu a war criminal while still talking to Iran

Qatar's Prime Minister just called Netanyahu a war criminal.

On British TV.

His name is Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. He said it to Piers Morgan, on Piers Morgan Uncensored, a few hours ago.

Morgan asked him straight. Is Netanyahu a war criminal?

Al Thani said yes. He said what has happened in Gaza is war crimes, and whoever is responsible is a war criminal.

That's Qatar's own Prime Minister naming Israel's Prime Minister. By name.

So why now? Netanyahu spoke at the UN General Assembly earlier this month. He accused Qatar of sending billions of dollars to American universities to shape US opinion.

Al Thani wasn't having it. He said Netanyahu is trying to quote "gaslight the public". His point: whenever celebrities, journalists or students criticise Israel over Gaza, Netanyahu blames Qatar instead of looking at his own government.

Al Thani also brought up the Israeli strike on Doha last year. Israeli forces hit Hamas officials there during ceasefire talks. He said Netanyahu has crossed the line before, and has done it again.

Then the numbers. He said more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire started in October 2025. He said Israeli forces still hold almost 70 percent of Gaza — which, in his telling, breaks that ceasefire.

He also said 70,000 people have died in Gaza in total, including children. That figure is his alone. Nobody else has confirmed it.

Now, the money. Al Thani said Qatar runs a $30 million-a-month aid programme for Gaza. Coordinated with Israel, the US and the UN. He denied any of it reaches Hamas's military wing.

But there's a problem with that. Israeli journalists Ronen Bergman and Yuval Rubovitch, writing for Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet, found Qatari funds were diverted to Hamas. Roughly half its military wing's budget, they say. And that Netanyahu's own government knew.

So Qatar's denial and that investigation say opposite things.

And here's the twist. Even while calling Netanyahu a war criminal, Al Thani says Qatar is still working the phones with Washington and Tehran.

He said Qatar is trying to give its best advice to the Americans, and to the Iranians, on how to reach a solution.

He said quiet diplomacy beats bombing. In his words, quote "closed-door diplomacy is the most effective way".

His three conditions to end the Iran war: Iran keeps the right to peaceful nuclear power, with sanctions lifted. Shipping moves freely again through the Strait of Hormuz. And new security arrangements get built between Iran and the Gulf states.

He also described the night the war on Iran began. He said the White House called to warn him somewhere between a few minutes and half an hour before it started. He was asleep at home in Doha when the phone rang.

He said he doesn't know if Iran's new supreme leader is even alive. Qatar has no direct contact with him.

Naftali Bennett hit back. He's Israel's former Prime Minister, now running the Beyachad party. He said Qatar's era of financing attacks on Jews and working against Israel is over, and that Israel will treat Qatar as an enemy state.

Netanyahu himself hasn't said a word about the interview.

So Qatar is running two arguments at once. Calling Israel's Prime Minister a war criminal, on British television. And telling the same audience it's still the one talking quietly to Washington and Tehran.

What we don't know yet: whether Netanyahu answers this at all. And whether Bennett's words change anything about the mediation itself.

For now, Qatar is still talking to both sides. And still, in its own Prime Minister's words, watching a war it says it has been trying to end from the start.