While General Abdel Fattah el-Sissi battles to push back the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Arab world as a whole is turning against Qatar for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
And as Qatar-owned Al Jazeera launches its U.S. affiliate on August 20, it also faces backlash from other journalists due to its support of the Muslim Brotherhood as well.
Columnist and Al-Arabiya TV’s general manager Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed writes that Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood has enabled that group to tear Egypt asunder, and has placed Qatar at odds “with other Gulf states–namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait.”
The Middle East Media Research Institute carried excerpts from Al-Rashed’s column on the subject, in which he wrote:
Gulf governments are again standing where they stood several years ago. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain are on one side and the Qatari government is on another. Their stances have been made clear through government and media statements. This is happening following a short period of Gulf consensus over almost everything since the Arab Spring began two and a half years ago. Countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait are aware of the gravity of chaos in a country like Egypt and think that standing against the status quo may drag Egypt towards disorder. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, as it has clearly shown during the past few weeks, is willing to walk a path toward confrontations and chaos instead of accepting calls for dialogue and reconciliation.
Al-Rashed explained that Gulf countries fear the chaos being caused by the Muslim Brotherhood may leave Egypt “another collapsed state.”
He then took on Qatar directly:
As for Qatar, it’s really difficult for us to understand its political logic over a country not linked to it on the levels of regimes, ideology and economy. And Egyptians in Qatar [are] only a minority. Its support of the move forcing…the army and other political Egyptian parties to adopt the [Brotherhood’s] demands is not only impossible but also has dangerous repercussions.
Al-Rashed wrote that supporting the Muslim Brotherhood at this point in time only “increases [the group’s] stubborn [insistence] to hold on to [its] stances, leading to an extremely dangerous situation.”
He said he cannot explain Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood except by pointing out that “historically and over a period of around 20 years, Qatar has always adopted stances that oppose the positions of its Gulf brothers.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins
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