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In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
May peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you,

Mr. President,

At the outset, I would like to extend my congratulations to you on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month, and to express my appreciation for the prompt response by the Presidency and the members of the Council to our request to convene this emergency meeting. I wish in particular to acknowledge Algeria, Somalia, Pakistan, France, and the United Kingdom, which requested this meeting on behalf of the State of Qatar.

We also value and commend the efforts of the Presidency and the members of the Council that led to the adoption of today’s press statement. We greatly appreciate the solidarity expressed with the State of Qatar by Council members in their statements during this session, following the treacherous Israeli attack in Doha on 9 September. The press statement condemned this act, noting that it took place on the territory of a principal mediator, expressing solidarity with the State of Qatar, and reaffirming support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

We address your esteemed Council today in the wake of an extremely dangerous escalation that constitutes a threat to regional peace and security and therefore falls squarely within the mandate of the Council under the Charter of the United Nations.

On Tuesday, 9 September, at 3:46 p.m., a treacherous Israeli attack targeted one of the residential quarters allocated by the State of Qatar to house negotiating delegations, as part of the multiple mediation efforts undertaken by my country. These buildings accommodated members and staff of the Hamas negotiating delegation and their families. Their presence there was public, well known to all parties concerned with the mediation process, and even to members of the media and diplomats who held meetings with delegation members at that very location.

Following the technical investigations undertaken by the security authorities and the verification of the identities of those affected by the Israeli bombardment, it was confirmed that the attack resulted in a number of casualties. Among them was the martyr, Qatari national Lance corporal/ Badr Saad Mohammed Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari, 22 years of age, who martyred while performing his duty. In addition, several civilians and members of the Qatari Internal Security Forces—tasked with safeguarding the compound—were injured, with injuries ranging from moderate to severe. All are currently receiving medical care. Investigations and information-gathering remain ongoing, including efforts to account for those still missing at the site. Beyond the casualties, the attack also terrorized innocent civilians and children in a residential neighborhood filled with schools, nurseries, and diplomatic missions.

What has occurred constitutes a blatant violation of the sovereignty of a full Member State of the United Nations, perpetrated by an extremist leadership that stands far removed from the conduct of civilized nations committed to peace.

The violation of the sovereignty of a state that has been exerting tireless efforts to secure a ceasefire and save lives places the entire international system before a true test. Israel, under the leadership of bloodthirsty extremists, has overstepped every boundary set by international norms and laws, and even the most basic ethical principles that govern relations not only between states, but between human beings. It has now become impossible to predict the extent of its actions.

How is it that Israeli officials come to us for negotiations, hosted on our soil, while their leadership simultaneously plots to bomb that very soil only days later—and then actually carries out the attack? Has the world ever heard of a state that strikes the mediating country with fighter aircraft, and during the negotiation process seeks to eliminate the very members of the delegations with whom it is negotiating, in their designated meeting premises?

And yet, the Prime Minister of Israel emerges with disgraceful justifications and false comparisons, attempting to legitimize an act that has been condemned by the entire international community.

Instead, Mr. prime minister should have recalled the example of the Taliban, which maintained a political office in Doha as a channel of communication with the world. That channel contributed to reaching a peace agreement in Afghanistan, bringing an end to decades of bitter conflict. Over the years, the United States never targeted the negotiators. On the contrary, the world witnessed the success of my country, in partnership with the United States under President Donald Trump, in ending the longest war in U.S. history in 2020.

This is the approach that the Israeli Prime Minister seeks to undermine, attempting to distort it through cheap justifications aimed at emotional manipulation.

These continuous violations of international law, and these actions that disregard even the most basic principles of human conduct, demonstrate only one thing: that the current leaders of Israel are afflicted with arrogance and the intoxication of power, having ensured impunity from accountability and justice.

Beyond the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip, against which the international community has failed to take deterrent action, their destructive hands now reach sovereign states, undermining regional security with complete impunity. Arrogance has reached the point of openly proclaiming not only delusional ambitions to reshape the region by force, but also esoteric and fundamentalist motivations that drive the extremists within the current Israeli government, as they openly declare to their own public, believing that no one else is listening.

It goes without saying that the countries of the region and their peoples cannot accept such conduct or the rhetoric accompanying it.

We have full faith in mediation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and Qatar’s role in this regard enjoys both regional and international recognition. Our experience has demonstrated that Qatari mediation, in partnership with the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America, has achieved tangible results, including the release of 148 hostages, comprising Israelis and foreigners, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. In a context where Israel employs starvation as a weapon, these efforts represent a rare beacon of hope in this bloody conflict.

However, the attack on our soil, carried out while we were fully engaged in mediation, has clearly revealed Israel’s deliberate intentions to undermine any efforts toward peace and to prolong the humanitarian suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people—a suffering of such magnitude that words fail to capture it.

It also reveals that the extremists who govern Israel today show no concern for the lives of hostages, and that their release is not a priority for them. Otherwise, how can one explain the timing and location of the attack, which occurred while negotiations were underway to discuss a ceasefire based on the latest American proposal? The Hamas negotiating delegation had convened to discuss their response to the U.S. paper, and Israel bombed that very meeting.

Mr. President,

I stand before you today, calling upon your esteemed Council to assume its historic responsibility. Silence in the face of the imposition of the law of the jungle and the targeting of a sovereign state in broad daylight undermines the rules of international action and threatens the future of any peace process in our region. The continuation of these attacks does not target Qatar alone; rather, it constitutes an explicit threat to every state working toward peace, eroding confidence in the United Nations system itself.

The State of Qatar, under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, affirms its unwavering commitment to continuing its humanitarian and diplomatic role wherever such efforts may serve the cause of bloodshed prevention. At the same time, Qatar will not tolerate any infringement upon its sovereignty or security and reserves its legitimate right to respond through the means guaranteed by international law. We in Qatar are advocates of peace, not of war. We have chosen peace as our guiding principle, and we will not be deterred from it by those who champion war and destruction.

We present these facts before your esteemed Council, and we remind you that, although our discussion today concerns the attack on the State of Qatar, we are in fact addressing an assault on all diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving peaceful solutions. The only path to peace runs through negotiations, beginning with a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and prisoners, the unconditional entry of humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip, and the lifting of the blockade.

Allow me, on behalf of all advocates of peace around the world, to express optimism. We must not yield to the arrogance of extremists, and we must continue striving toward a lasting peace based on the two-state solution, through the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state on its national territory in accordance with international legitimacy. Two states and two peoples coexisting in peace can only be achieved with partners who uphold these principles.

May peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.