PM Abe of Japan Shames Dead Japanese Nationals by Welcoming Qatar

PM Abe of Japan Shames Dead Japanese Nationals by Welcoming Qatar

Noriko Watanabe, Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe appears to be mocking the Japanese nationals that were beheaded by ISIS (IS – Islamic State) because he welcomed Qatar with open arms. However, it is no secret that Qatar is involved in supporting anti-Christian terrorist and sectarian organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood – alongside links with various terrorist Takfiri groups. Sadly, major media outlets in Japan also appear to be involved in this naive approach.

Only recently Abe was speaking to the international community about the deplorable murders of two Japanese nationals who were beheaded. Yet, within such a very short time he welcomes Qatar and talks about developing regional peace with this nation. In other words, energy resources and trade appears to be outweighing a serious attempt to rebuke Qatar for its role in destabilizing several nations throughout the Middle East – and much further afield.

The Japan Times reports: “Japan and Qatar agreed Friday that stability in the Middle East serves as a foundation for international peace and prosperity and pledged to cooperate on addressing the threat of terrorism.”

However, Abe appears to be lacking in the field of critical thinking and doing genuine research. After all, major specialists, media sources and leading international politicians have questioned the terrorist ratlines of Qatar.

The Washington Times reports: “Qatar’s support for a former jihadist leader who is now the top rebel commander in Tripoli, Libya, is causing unease among Libyan rebels who worry that the revolution that ended Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s four-decade rule is being hijacked by Islamists.”

The same article continues: “Rebel sources say that Qatar has provided shipments of weapons to Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the rebels’ top military commander in Tripoli. He founded the now-disbanded Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which was listed as a foreign terrorist group by the State Department.”

In a similar vein an article in The New York Times highlights the linkage of Qatar and terrorism based on the writer Ron Prosor. The author states: “This hasn’t stopped the Persian Gulf monarchy from serving as a Club Med for terrorists. It harbors leading Islamist radicals like the spiritual leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who issued a religious fatwa endorsing suicide attacks, and the Doha-based history professor Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi, whom the United States Department of Treasury has named as a “terrorist financier” for Al Qaeda. Qatar also funds a life of luxury for Khaled Meshal, the fugitive leader of Hamas.”

In an article published in The Daily Telegraph this media source focuses on the murky role of Qatar and terrorism. For example, two known individuals with major links to international terrorism were highlighted. This media group reports: “The two Qataris — Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy and Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr al-Nuaymi — are living in Doha, the country’s capital, and are free to go as they please, according to David Cohen, the US Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.”

Dr David Weinberg at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies states: “Arrests, indictments and convictions are only one dimension of whether Qatar is taking the fight against terrorism seriously, but historically it is one of several dimensions in which the [ruling] al-Thani family has miserably failed the test. Doha’s token participation in air strikes against the Islamic State was intended to show that they are on our side in the fight against terror, but these sorts of revelations really put to the test whether Qatar can be considered a reliable friend and ally.”

In another article by The Daily Telegraph in relation to Qatar and terrorism it says: “Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the chair of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, has warned that Qatar “must choose their friends or live with the consequences” while Professor Anthony Glees, director of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said: “The time has come to draw the line under funding by the Gulf States coming into the UK. It is well known that to find the terrorists you have to follow the money and at the moment it seems to be coming from Qatar.”

Therefore, it is extremely galling that Abe is seen to be praising Qatar within such a short time of the brutal murders of two Japanese nationals. Indeed, it makes you question the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this nation because surely serious questions should be being raised – instead of ‘whitewashing” the role of Qatar in destabilizing the region based on many murky intrigues.

The Gatestone Institute reports: “Qatar’s major international charity, the Qatar Charitable Society (now simply Qatar Charity) has acted as a financier and agency for terrorist outfits in several countries. It has funded al-Qaeda in Chechnya, Mali and elsewhere, was a key player in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and funded Syria’s Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade. Qatar has also financed terrorists in northern Mali operations, including Ansar Dine, alleged to be linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [North Africa]; and it retains contacts with (and no doubt still funds) al-Qaeda.”

In the same article above by Denis MacEoin he says: “Apart from cash advances to terrorist entities, the Qatari government seems to be directly involved in other activities, notably the shipping of planeloads of arms to Libyan jihadists. These shipments include a C-17 cargo plane carrying weaponry to a militia loyal to a warlord who had fought alongside Osama bin Laden; arms supplies to the jihadist coalition that now controls Tripoli after the launch of Operation Libya Dawn, and some $3 billion and 70 planeloads of arms to rebel forces in Syria.”

Newsweek also quotes Lori Plotkin Boghardt, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who says: “Qatar and Kuwait are loath to limit the activities of highly influential ISIS donors due to the political fallout such intervention may cause. In Kuwait, a family of parliamentarians—including Kuwaiti member of parliament Mohammed Hayef al-Mutairi—has raised funds for jihadist groups with direct ties to ISIS. “Cracking down on some ISIS financiers is politically complicated for these countries’ leaderships.”

If Abe wants to tackle the problem of terrorism with genuine international partners then it helps if he looks in the right direction. Sadly, even after two Japanese nationals have just been beheaded it appears that elites in this nation are whistling down a blind alley.

Equally galling, if media outlets in Japan are also following a feeble Abe approach on the role of Qatar, then the public in this nation are not being informed adequately.

http://defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/publications/Qatar_Part_I.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/qatar-club-med-for-terrorists.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/29/rebels-fearful-of-islamist-takeover/#ixzz2NIOC1awF

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11233407/Terror-financiers-are-living-freely-in-Qatar-US-discloses.html

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4898/qatar-terrorism

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/14/how-does-isis-fund-its-reign-terror-282607.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11140190/Banker-who-financed-911-mastermind-now-funding-terrorists-in-Syria-and-Iraq.html