Last weekend, numerous U.S., European, and Israeli media outlets—including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and The Times of Israel—reported that the government of Qatar was moving to expel the leadership of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group. They sourced their stories to senior Biden administration officials.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” a senior U.S. official told the Journal on Saturday. “We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal.” (This same statement was shared with other media outlets.)
The only problem with these reports is that they weren’t true. Yes, America may have asked Qatar to expel Hamas officials. But Qatar appears to have ignored the request.
