Has Qatar changed its approach to the Brotherhood?
Major changes have taken place in the State of Qatar’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is classified in many countries as a terrorist organization. Authorities have granted some of the second-tier leaders of the group a temporary ultimatum to leave the country.
According to Maher Farghali, a researcher specializing in terrorist group’s affairs, Qatari officials are hesitant to inform Brotherhood official Mohammed Abdel Wahab that they should move to places other than Doha and that they have become undesirable. He pointed out that Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad discussed the Brotherhood file in a meeting with Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Speaking by phone on Hadith El Qahera program on Al-Qahira Wal-Nas TV, Farghali said that there are sources talking about Qatar’s intention to expel the Ibrahim Munir group from Doha.
Qatar’s move to expel Brotherhood members from the country was not the first. Doha expelled dozens of first- and second-tier Brotherhood leaders from the country in 2017, led by ʿIsam Talima and Mahmoud Hussein, who currently leads the Brotherhood from Turkey.
Observers believe that Qatar’s desire to expel the second-tier leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood is due to its desire to remove the obstacle to rapprochement with the Gulf and Arab countries, as is the case with Turkey, which seeks through expelling the Brotherhood from its territory to show its good intentions to rapprochement with the Gulf countries and Egypt.
