Burgum says Biden ‘funding both sides’ of Israel-Hamas war with Qatar support

GOP Presidential candidate Doug Burgum (N.D.) criticized President Biden on Friday for relying on Qatar to negotiate with Hamas to release U.S. hostages held by the terrorist organization in Gaza.

“Just because we gotta open lines of communication with someone and just because they say that they’re the ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’ doesn’t mean they’re our ally,” Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, said in a Fox News interview on Friday.

The Biden administration has worked closely with the Qatari government to create a back channel of communication to Hamas, as the U.S. attempts to free American hostages kept by the organization amid its war with Israel.

“We’re using every connection we can to try to get the release of the hostages. So Qatar has avenues that we think are helpful,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill last week.

Qatar has supported Hamas in the past and has shared a fraught relationship with the U.S., balancing its Islamist politics with close ties to the U.S. military. Thousands of U.S. troops are housed at Al Udeid Air base, which serves as the center of U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

“We have been very clear about Qatar’s role in allowing Hamas reign in their country — it’s wrong,” Cardin continued. “And we have pointed that out and we’ll continue to point that out.”

Burgum claimed that much of the support Qatar gets from the U.S. is funneled to Hamas and other Islamist terror organizations, and that Biden is “funding both sides” of the Israel-Hams conflict with continued support for Qatar. 

He added that the U.S. should leverage the military presence and threaten the country to change its policies.

“If we’re actually negotiating from our strengths in this position then we should be saying, ‘Qatar, hey, your airways, Qatar Airways, you want to be flying the United States. You want to have full diplomatic relationships. Do you want to have a full economic relationship with us?’” Burgum said.

Negotiations between the U.S. and Hamas via Qatar have thus far resulted in two American hostages being released from Gaza. The Palestinian militant group is still holding over 200 people hostage, with a small but unknown number of them being Americans.

“They’ve had a sweet relationship with us. At the same time, they’ve been funding Hamas and now with this attack that Hamas has had on Israel, things have to change,” Burgum said. “The Biden administration is acting like it’s business as usual. Just because we got their phone number doesn’t mean they’re our ally in this situation.”