After $42 billion defense deal, Trump says ‘no one is going to break’ his relationship with Qatar

During his ongoing trip to the Middle East, Trump sparked controversy when he accepted a $400 million luxury aircraft from Qatar to be used as the New Air Force One. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Addressing US troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said his ties with Qatar’s Sheik Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani are “unbreakable.”

Trump thanked the soldiers at Al Udeid, the largest US military installation in the region, with 10,000 personnel, and said they would receive pay raises.

“Yesterday, we signed an agreement for Qatar to purchase $42 billion worth of the finest American military hardware,” he said.

“I don’t think our friendship has ever been stronger than it is right now. We are going to protect you,” he said, adding that “nobody’s going to break” his relationship with Qatar.

During his ongoing trip to the Middle East, Trump sparked controversy when he accepted a $400 million luxury aircraft from Qatar to be used as the New Air Force One.

Given Qatar’s ties to terror groups, the gift of a plane may compromise security, critics say.

The Gulf state has been known to use its economic influence to support Hamas and spreadanti-Israel and anti-US propaganda on American campuses.

A key player is Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the current emir. “She is a fashion icon and a philanthropist, but she is openly pro-Hamas,” Asaf Romirowsky, historian and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Press Service of Israel.

Moza heads the Qatar Foundation, which floods cash into American schools and universities to indoctrinate students.

An ISGAP report labeled Qatar as the largest foreign donor to US universities.

“Our investigations during the Trump administration revealed that many of the US most prestigious universities are shockingly agnostic about who they’ll take money from,” Paul R. Moore, former chief investigative counsel in the US Department of Education, told TPS-IL.

“The purposes of these donors are often very much contrary to the US national interests. The failure of many of the universities to respond to antisemitic protests is a perfect example. The universities didn’t want to offend their Middle Eastern donors.”