DOHA: Qatar Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, said on Tuesday Israel deliberately chose to expand what he called its “aggression” to implement pre-planned schemes in the West Bank and Lebanon.
Israel had done so “because it sees that the scope for that is available,” he said in his annual speech to open the Shoura Council.
The Council has legislative authority and approves general state policies and the budget, but has no say in the setting of defense, security, economic and investment policy for the small but wealthy gas producer, which bans political parties.
Amendments to Qatar’s constitution will be proposed by the Shoura Council and put to a popular referendum vote, Qatar’s Emir added.
JERUSALEM: Israel will consider the United States’s opinion but will act against an Iranian missile attack based on its own “national interests,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel against striking Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities to avoid a further regional escalation and amid concerns over global energy prices.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest,” the office said.
The statement followed a Washington Post report, citing unnamed US officials, that Netanyahu had reassured the White House any counterstrike would be limited to military sites.
The Wall Street Journal, also anonymous US officials, said the assurance was made in a call last week between Netanyahu and Biden, as well as in conversations between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
The plan “was met with relief in Washington,” the Washington Post reported.
Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan.
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the Iranian missile attack, with Defense Minister Gallant saying the response would be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”
