Israel and Qatar join Greece Air Force drill amid Qatargate scandal

Israel's Air Force participating in the drill in Greece — photo: IDF Spokesperson Unit

Israel’s Air Force is back in the game, joining a big multinational air exercise in Greece alongside other nations including the United States, France, and even Qatar. This year, the Israelis used their fancy Oron intelligence plane for the NATO-hosted drill, rubbing shoulders with people from India, Italy, the UAE, and a handful of others. Cyprus chipped in with some support crew, while Slovakia and Bahrain sent people just to watch. Last year, Israel sat it out—too tangled up in diplomatic spats with Turkey while at war with Hamas and Hezbollah, in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Here’s where it gets spicy: Qatar’s in the mix too, flying in with their slick American-made F-15 jets. Now, Qatar’s a tricky one—they’ve got no official ties with Israel, don’t even recognize it as a legit state, and they’re cozy with Hamas, funneling cash their way while also playing middleman in ceasefire talks. Compare that to the UAE and Bahrain, who patched things up with Israel back in 2020 thanks to the Abraham Accords. Still, Israel and Qatar have had their share of under-the-table dealings over the years.

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Things got messier this week with the so-called Qatargate mess. Israeli cops nabbed two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top guys, Jonathan Urich and Eli Feldstein, over claims they took Qatari cash to push Doha’s agenda around the 2022 World Cup. Netanyahu stirred the pot Monday, calling his aides “hostages” and whining about a “political investigation.” That didn’t sit well with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, who fired back, saying the real hostages are the 59 people stuck in Gaza for 542 days—not his buddies in cuffs. Critics are piling on too, saying Netanyahu’s the one who greenlit Qatari money flowing into Gaza, juicing up Hamas before their October 7, 2023, rampage. He’s pushing back, insisting it was just to keep Gaza from going broke. Either way the joint participation of Qatar and Israel in the same Air Force drills appear as a controversial move due to recent claims.