Hai Khalil al-Husseini, the former head of Qatar’s State Information Service (SIS) on Monday said Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain have been trying to force Al Jazeera, a Saudi-owned, Arab-language news network, into an alliance against Iran.
“Qatar is the only Muslim country that is fighting against both Saudi Arabia and Iran. The countries are attempting to force Al Jazeera in an alliance against Iran in order to weaken Iran and bring back their colonialist mentality into the world,” he said. “Doha is very important for the Muslim world. Its presence in the Arab [countries] in order to fight against the tyranny in Iran. The Saudis and the other [Arab] countries are trying to overthrow Qatari leadership and influence Qatar. But it has been proved that Qatar does not accept and supports the interference on its soil.”
He explained to al-Monitor that the Saudis and Emiratis oppose the presence of Al Jazeera. “The [regime] in Kuwait has banned Al Jazeera and it is not allowed to provide TV coverage for Kuwaiti citizens.” Kuwait’s government also said Qatar and those close to it are committing “terrorism,” but does not provide proof.
Al-Husseini said that the Gulf states also want to block al-Jazeera from receiving foreign funding. Qatar, through al-Jazeera International and its sister network Al Jazeera English, receives the bulk of its funding from Saudi Arabia. Al-Jazeera receives a large portion of its revenues from donations of foreign dollars. He said Qatar’s budget is $600 million to $700 million a year.
“To say ‘they’ are interfering means that they interfere and don’t want Qatari investments, which is not true,” al-Husseini said. “Qataris do not want to be dominated with the American-Israeli agenda of hegemony or American hegemony itself. Qatar wants to see a Palestinian state, freedom for Palestinians, return of refugees, end of Israeli settlements and Iran as a problem is to be resolved, not Iran.”
Al-Husseini also questioned the credibility of the Gulf states, as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain have created instability in regions they claim to be working to stabilize. He said that these countries did not seek to end the Syrian civil conflict or end the Iranian nuclear program.