Qatar has undergone two palace coups over the past 30 years. In 1995, Hamad bin Khalifa deposed his father while the latter was visiting Switzerland. Eight years later, his son Tamim bin Hamad was appointed crown prince. Tamim was not the eldest son, but his mother, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, pulled strings on his behalf. The sheikha is considered one of the most powerful women in the emirates – one who is also connected to Islamist currents and the Muslim Brotherhood movement. The emir's fourth wife promoted her son to the position of crown prince. In 2013, in a somewhat strange televised statement, Hamad announced his resignation and the transfer of powers to his younger son.

"Generally speaking, it's been the same system since 1995. Since that coup, the government has maintained the same ideology and ideas. Tamim bin Hamad is a man who hides under his mother's skirt. On many issues in Qatar, he has nothing to say, but he goes with the flow of what the Islamists and strategists working for them decide for the country. He is subject to manipulation by Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, which is essentially the ideological mother of Hamas," Al-Hail said.

Is Sheikha Moza considered stronger than him?

"She is very strong and influences her son. She essentially controls many aspects of the country because Tamim, unfortunately, is subject to manipulation by others in his decisions. Usually, he acts out of anger, and not from what's best for his country or the interests of the people."

History of betrayals

In this context, what is Qatar's position regarding the protests in Iran? Is there fear that it will affect people in Qatar?

"A few years ago, when the government canceled the elections, there were some protests in Qatar. Many people may not know about this, but you can search for it on Google and find the videos. Tamim fled the country at that time. He was so scared that he believed a small movement of a thousand people could really change the regime in Qatar. He is a very weak man."

"Therefore, what's happening now in Iran definitely has an impact. The regime in Qatar helps the mullah regime maintain its power, because there are many shared interests there. Don't forget that the regimes of Qatar and Iran have two proxy fronts – Iran's Hezbollah and Qatar's Muslim Brotherhood. The same goes for Hamas and all the terror organizations that receive support from them. Most of the leaders of terror organizations live in Qatar, because they carry the same ideology. From what I know, many senior Iranian officials sent their children to Qatar in the past week. Many children of senior Revolutionary Guards officials are in Qatar."

Would you say Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood should be removed from Qatar? What is your position on the matter?

"Their presence is unacceptable. First of all, we shouldn't negotiate with terrorists. The claims of the Qatari regime are that it mediates between Hamas and Israel... No one wants to discuss anything with terrorists. They created Hamas, they are Hamas' sponsors, they support Hamas, and push it toward illegal activity. They also promote Hamas through Qatari media via the Al Jazeera channel and others. Where does Ashraf Al-Mashrawi (a Gaza director) live? Where do all the senior Hamas officials live? In Qatar. So they shouldn't have existence in Qatar. You saw the Israeli strike against those terrorists. Such things are not acceptable in Qatar, and people don't want this to happen. We don't want their presence in Doha. They shouldn't be there."

What is your party's position regarding relations with Israel?

"We are very open to a normal and natural relationship with the State of Israel, because we believe this is the way to create regional stability. That's the first thing. Second thing, the idea of how the Qatari government has positioned itself as supporting Hamas, supporting revolution, supporting nonsense – we are not interested in this. We just need our country to be a normal country, with normal relations with strong countries like Israel."

"Don't forget that the Qatari regime betrayed Israel in 1996. They invited Prime Minister Shimon Peres to visit Qatar in 1996 and promised, 'We will have a normal relationship.' And then in 1999, they turned their backs on the Israelis and began supporting Hamas. And why did they lie? Because they were trying to please America at that time. This is the long history of betrayal by the Qatari regime. That's why no one supports it, not even our own people."

Buying influence

Al-Hail views the Qatari regime's naivety particularly negatively, including in Western academia. There, the Qatari Foundation has invested enormous wealth in elite universities. Just last September, a serious report on the subject was published by a Jewish-American organization, based on official data. According to the report, Qatar distributed a massive sum of $6.6 billion – more than any other Arab country, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Qatari politician has a clear position on the matter – stop the games and return to being a "normal country." Moreover, he accuses the Doha regime of direct involvement in anti-Israel protests.

"As you know, there is a large movement in the West against Israel that is entirely funded by Qatar. People go to pro-Palestinian demonstrations and don't understand what they're doing. They're just there. They're just there because they're being paid. Can you believe there are students being manipulated by their professors, who were funded by the Qatari government? They're just there to please their professors and please the Qatari agenda. Just to get some money or the Qatari government's support for their seat at the university. This needs to be stopped, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

In this context, what do you think about the Qatari regime's involvement in influence operations in foreign countries, as published in Israel?

"'Qatargate' and all these scandals are because of the Qatari government. It has no normal language of negotiation except to pay money and buy influence. The only problem is there's no one else fighting it in its game. He (the emir of Qatar) wakes up in the morning and decides to sign a check for $100 million. He will sign it because no one will tell him he can't. So he will support whoever he wants. He will give money to whoever he wants."

Al-Hail also does not view favorably the relationships between American officials and Qatari figures, which were exposed during the war. For example, last September, The New York Times revealed that the son of United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who led the hostage negotiations, was involved in financial initiatives in the Gulf. According to the publication, his son, Alex Witkoff, tried to raise enormous capital from government investors in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.

Doha seethed with fury. The Ministry of International Communications in the emirate published a denial statement within days. Qatar confirmed that business relationships with the American envoy have long existed, but did not specifically address dealings with his son during the mediation process. "The claims that Qatar tried to cultivate a relationship with Mr. Witkoff through a lobbying program, years before he was appointed to public office, including his recent role as Middle East envoy, are completely false and so lacking in credibility that they can only be described as absurd," was conveyed from the emirate.

What does the Trump administration not understand about Qatar?

"The current position of the American administration toward Qatar is quite embarrassing, but I know exactly what Qatar did. It buys influence around Trump, and buys some of the close people just to convince them that the Qataris are good allies for regional stability and that they can negotiate. But how can you negotiate with a country like Qatar?"

"How can their mediation be accepted? After all, they are the ones creating these movements, these terrorists, and at the end of the day, they just want people to rely on them in negotiations. Basically, when Israel conducted negotiations with Hamas, it was negotiating with Qatar – not with Hamas. Hamas has no say, it's a terror organization, a militia, not a country or government. It's simply a bunch of terrorists who want to kill everyone without any reason except money."

Beyond that, the Qatari politician attacks sharply and condemns unambiguously the October 7 massacre. He is furious about the acts of murder, comes out against the culture of denial promoted by the Qatari Al Jazeera network, and sides with Israel's right to defend itself.

"Hamas is happy even that Gaza was destroyed, because this way they can collect the money again and again and again. That's why October 7 happened. It's all a money game for them, it's not the people or the issue (Palestinian). They're a bunch of terrorists who want to sow chaos in the Middle East, and then they cry about what happened – 'Oh no, look what they did to us.' But you did this to yourselves! Nations defend themselves."

"I saw some horrific pictures from October 7. These are pictures that people don't see in the Middle East. Why doesn't Al Jazeera push those videos? They present October 7 as a victory by some terrorists, but never show the other side. For every woman or man who was murdered, they say these are Israeli soldiers or military figures. That's a lie. I saw stories about innocent civilians who were murdered there. And the sexual assaults – it's unbelievable."

Al-Hail also recounts the dramatic moments that almost led to his imprisonment for many years. He is not the first who dared say something critical about the regime and was arrested. In a country of absolute monarchy, you cannot say what's on your mind. Yet, due to the extensive connections he had with the ruling elite, he mistakenly thought for a moment that perhaps he was immune.

"I was in London in the previous decade on banking matters, and I had a dispute with Tamim," Al-Hail recalled. "And then he called me and said, 'Please come back to Qatar, we'll be friends again. Everything will be fine.'"

"So I returned to Doha – and straight from the diplomatic area at the airport, I was sent to a detention center. There was a senior official in the intelligence apparatus who threw in my face that I 'want to change the regime,' and mentioned 'the shit you said about al-Qaradawi' (Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, who lived in Qatar and died in 2022). 'You said these things about us.'"

"You understand? Tamim bin Hamad called me and betrayed me. He called me to Doha and lied. It was a really bad experience, and I don't wish anyone to go through it. Later, I simply fled the country illegally, found my way out, and thank God, I'm still alive. I also had people there. Tamim is a foolish man, he thinks he has influence, but I have too. I have people in the army and in the Mukhabarat (intelligence agencies)."

"Qatar PM – a puppet"

The sense of betrayal is evident on Al-Hail when he speaks. After all, he had known Tamim bin Hamad for many years and felt the trust between them had been broken.

"I know Tamim better than anyone else," he said. "I sat with him, talked with him like I'm talking with you now. I dealt with economics and was a businessman. I also have family connections with Tamim, because his mother belongs to our tribe. So we had normal family relations. He played tennis and we had mutual friends. This was before he was the crown prince. He wasn't supposed to be the crown prince. His brother had the title at the time."

There are also other senior government officials considered pro-Western, such as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Al Thani supposedly served in the role of mediator in contacts for a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. He met more than once with Israeli, American, and Egyptian officials, and with the terror organization's team abroad. He also participated in talks about the last ceasefire agreement. From time to time, he gives interviews and spreads the regime's slogans, according to which Qatar acted only in coordination with Israel and with the US. Toward the end of the interview, when I ask Al-Hail about him, he responds with quite surprising decisiveness.

"He's a joke. During my time in Qatar, he was nothing. We were friends together on one of the committees. He led small and medium Qatari companies. At that time, he didn't do a good job – so we transferred him to a position where he worked directly with Tamim bin Hamad. Later, he came to the Foreign Ministry and subsequently became prime minister. He has no power base or history. This man is a puppet, he has no brain."

Despite these things, Al-Hail remains hopeful about his ability to bring about change in the emirate and turn it into a constitutional monarchy – a democratic system in which all the country's founding families are involved. "Our main obstacle as a party is that Qatar is an absolute monarchy. They canceled all forms of democratic participation. They prohibit the existence of all parties and political movements in Qatar. In 2023, they even canceled all elections in Qatar because they began to see the parliament presenting oppositional voices. So the obstacle is that the opposition becomes illegal. The only voice the government wants people to hear is the voice of Tamim bin Hamad and his gang."

According to him, "In the past, there were two tribes that ruled the country, and now it's a show of one person, which is unacceptable. All the founding families need to be part of the 'Majlis Al Sayda,' the State of Qatar's supreme governing council. There are many people who support this, but what you see in Qatar is not the truth, it's a police state. In Israel, you can express your opinion. You can criticize the prime minister. No one will tell you anything. In Qatar, you cannot. You just say 'Tamim is dead' – and you're sent to prison for 15 years."