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Israeli Group Ran Secret Anti-Qatar Influence Campaign Post-Oct 7 — AI-generated representative image: A person works at a computer in a dim office, illustrating a reported covert digital influence campaign targeting Qatar after

Editorial Team

Covert operation involving influence experts and a former Mossad official sought to pressure Doha over Hamas ties

A group including Israeli influence experts and political advisers worked on a secret campaign targeting Qatar in the weeks after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, before the initiative was abruptly halted, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The campaign was launched days after the assault on southern Israel and sought to pressure Qatar over its relationship with Hamas, Haaretz reported on Monday.

The revelation exposes a coordinated effort to shape global public opinion against a country that has simultaneously served as the principal mediator between Israel and Hamas. Analysts say the campaign underscores a deeper contradiction in Israel's posture toward Doha, which it has both relied upon for indirect negotiations and publicly accused of enabling Hamas.

How the Campaign Operated

According to the report, about 30 people were recruited to the project, including experts in psychological warfare. A WhatsApp group called Free the Kidnapped was established several days after October 7. The identities of those who initiated the operation "are barred from publication", Haaretz said.

Those behind the effort believed international pressure could force Doha to influence Hamas to secure the release of the 251 captives taken to Gaza on October 7. Participants raised donations, produced videos, contacted journalists and arranged media appearances as part of the campaign. A website was established in several languages and social media accounts were opened. Haaretz reported that a former Mossad official was also part of the group.

Qatar's Mediator Role and Past Tensions

Qatar has been the key mediator between Hamas and Israel since Israel's war in Gaza began. Doha has hosted Hamas's political office since 2012, a decision made after a request from the United States, according to Qatari officials.

Although Israeli officials have repeatedly travelled to Doha for indirect negotiations with Hamas, the Israeli army carried out a missile strike on the country on September 9 last year, targeting Hamas's negotiating team. Six people were killed, including a Qatari national. The episode was condemned by countries including France and the United Kingdom, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later apologised for the strike.

The following month, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal, which Israel has since violated hundreds of times. Since October, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza and injured nearly 4,700, bringing the total death toll to more than 73,700 since October 2023.

Messages and Official Responses

Haaretz reported that one member of the anti-Qatar WhatsApp group asked, "Do we know how much Qatar gives Hamas every year or some other monetary figure that we can hammer home?" Another responded, "Qatar-ISIS Ltd". The message "Hamas is ISIS" was subsequently used on the campaign's website and Facebook profile.

Qatar has repeatedly denied allegations that it funds Hamas, pointing to the strict oversight governing its aid transfers. "All our aid, financing, and all our support went to the people in Gaza, and was a very transparent process that the United States is very aware of, and Israel was the one facilitating," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister, said last year.

Campaign Abruptly Halted

About a month after it began, the campaign was shut down. "After a while, it was shut down. We stopped dealing with the Qatar campaign. I never heard anything more about the campaign," one participant told Haaretz.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London, said the story reveals an "extraordinary contradiction" in Israel's relationship with Qatar. "Israel has spent years presenting Qatar as an enabler of Hamas, yet at the same time, successive Israeli governments have relied on Qatar precisely because Doha possesses access to Hamas and other actors that Israel cannot reach directly. Qatar has effectively been both demonised and instrumentalised."