Qatar came in for condemnation on Thursday after a trip to Israel by a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services.
“I made clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when I met with him in Jerusalem that I will always stand with Israel,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote on Fox News. “Now, President Biden must show that his administration and Democrats in Washington will do the same, stop cowering to the radical left of their party in a disgusting and dangerous attempt to get votes from Hamas-sympathizers.”
Scott called on U.S. President Joe Biden to “force Qatar to do its job in securing the immediate release of hostages and ending its coddling of Hamas leadership.” The Florida senator said he saw firsthand “the incredible and unprecedented work Israel is doing to preserve civilian life and get aid into Gaza.”
Making clear his support for Netanyahu’s war plans—a war that was started after Hamas terrorists infiltrated the border and killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7—Scott insisted that “Hamas must be destroyed, and that means going in Rafah and any other place Hamas is hiding behind innocent civilians.”
Qatar received notable attention in Scott’s column.
He said leaders of the country have “had months to secure the release of hostages from Hamas. How has this not yet been accomplished? Why is Qatar allowing the leaders of Hamas to live in luxury and under protection in Doha while American citizens remain tortured in the captivity of terrorists?”
Scott said that “Qatar enjoys many of the benefits of being an American ally, including hosting a U.S. military base.” Along those lines, he added: “If the Qataris won’t do their part to get our hostages out, everything should be on the table in terms of consequences for its inaction.”