Since the ouster of Egypt's former president, Mohamed Morsi, Cairo and Doha have been exchanging accusations, as Cairo blames Doha for supporting terrorist organizations, while Doha calls on Cairo to stop its crackdown on Islamists. Qatar has always expressed its support to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, not only following the Arab Spring's uprisings in 2011, but since the second half of the 20th century. MB members found a safe haven in Qatar after the crackdown on Islamists by the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's regime in 1954 which imprisoned the majority of the brotherhood's leaders, while the rest fled to Qatar. MBs have merged in the Qatari community, allowing them to run their own Islamic institutions and spread their fundamentalism in the low population gulf state. Moreover, Qatar hosts one of the MB international organization's godfathers, the chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Yusuf Al Qaradawi, who moved to the gulf state in 1961 to run a religious institute before becoming a dean at Qatar University. The Qatari scholar of Egyptian origins faces several Interpol arrest warrants over multiple charges, all levied by the Egyptian government, including incitement of premeditated murder and helping prisoners to escape. Qaradawi has been banned from entering the U.S. since 1999 and the UK since 2008. The MB-Qatari approach did not only ignite anger in Cairo, but also across the Gulf countries. On March 5, 2014, three Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states including; Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain, withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, in response to the Qatari interference in their internal affairs, alongside Qatar's support to MB, which has been labeled a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt. Most of the Gulf monarchies are threatened by the MB's influence, especially after the group has risen to power in Egypt, Libya and Tunis following the Arab spring uprisings. The brotherhood's leaders have been detained and its activities were banned in several Gulf States. Why does Qatar support the Muslim Brotherhood? In an interview with France 24, professor of political science at Al Azhar University in Gaza, Ibrahim Abrash said the reason behind the Qatari support to MB is demographic, since Qatar's population is estimated at 1.7 mn people, only 300.000 of them are Qatari nationals, allowing the government to make radical decisions in absence of a strong popular opposition, or fear of the MB's political influence. "The U.S. supports the Qatari orientation to support MB, as it serves the American vision to create moderate Islamic rule in the region, especially in the Arab Spring countries," Abrash said, adding that the U.S. and Qatar share deep bilateral ties, as Qatar hosts the largest U.S. military bases in the region. The other reason behind Qatar's support to MB, according to Abrash, is psychological, since MB helps Qatar achieve its ambitions to play a greater role in the region, bigger than its qualifications. The Qatari support to MB concerns Israel as well, due to the political and financial Qatari support to the MB's franchise in Gaza, Hamas. Doha has welcomed Hamas' leader, Khaled Mashal, after leaving Damascus in 2012, amid the Syrian conflict breakout. Qatar has strongly criticized the Egyptian regime following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, who faces accusations of spying for Qatar, July 2013. The Gulf emirate has used its TV network, Aljazeera, to attack the interim government in Egypt, and the government of President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi afterwards, extending the gap between Cairo and Doha even further. Qatar's authorities have shut down Aljazeera Mubasher Misr channel, best known for its strong criticism if the Egyptian regime, following the Saudi mediated reconciliation between Egypt and Qatar in November 2014. On its part, Aljazeera started to address Al Sisi as the legitimate ruler of Egypt. The EgyptianQatari relations have arguably witnessed recent tension as Qatar opposed the air strikes carried out by Egyptian air force on Islamic state's positions in Libya, in retaliation to the execution of 21 Egyptian Christians by the group's militants late February, in an Arab League's session. Egypt's envoy to the Arab League expressed his anger over Qatar's opposition, describing Doha as a "supporter of terrorism," which prompted Qatar to withdraw its ambassador to Cairo. "We don't fund extremists," the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in November 2014, "If you mean certain movements, especially in Syria and Iraq, we all consider them terrorist movement," he added. Tamim affirmed that unlike Qatar, the U.S. and other countries consider any movement of an Islamic background a terrorist organization. The future may hold a new page for Egyptian-Qatari relations; however, this needs compromises from both sides, which doesn't seem achievable at the moment.
