‘Smear campaign’: Qatar dismisses Israeli PM’s ‘hostile state’ remark

Ibrahim al-Hashmi, a communications director at Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, says Israel has resorted to a “smear campaign” against the Gulf country as it can no longer claim to be a “vibrant democracy in the Middle East” and the most “moral army in the world” following the genocide in Gaza. His comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Qatar a “hostile state” in an interview with Israeli media. “Qatar is a trusted and principled international partner,” al-Hashmi told reporters in Doha.