Piers Morgan Uncensored - “YOU Funded Hamas!” Former Israel PM Reacts To Qatar PM Interview | With Ana Kasparian & Joe Kent

Episode Date: September 30, 2026

Following Piers Morgan’s interview with the Prime Minister of Qatar, in which the world leader said he believes Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and denied funding Hamas or having contact with Iran’s new supreme leader, Piers is joined by a host of guests to unpack and debate. Uncensored is joined by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, The Young Turks host Ana Kasparian, former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent, senior counsel Josh Hammer, and defense attorney Alan Dershowitz to debate the escalating war of words between Israel and Qatar, and its consequences for US foreign policy. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:04:00) Naftali Bennett interview (00:18:29) Ana Kasparian: Is Qatar is a peaceful state? (00:22:04) Alan Dershowitz: Qatar as an enemy of Israel (00:34:45) Josh Hammer: Qatar’s relationship with Hamas (00:39:35) Qatar PM calling Netanyahu a war criminal (00:43:02) Google Earth images of destroyed Gaza (00:47:22) Panel clash over US funding for the IDF (00:51:50) Lifting the ban on international journalists to enter Gaza Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I fought in Fallujah. I fought in Ramadi. I fought in Najat. The U.S. military does not behave like the Israeli defense force. No country in the history of warfare has ever done war to protect the civilians of enemy countries. Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, is a war criminal, and he's not the only one in Israel, who happens to be one. When are the Zionists done sucking the life out of this country on behalf of that tiny, irrelevant, war-thirsty country in the Middle East? This war will go down in history as a positive, step in preventing a nuclear holocaust. Josh, are you going to go?

You're going to go settle up? Israel's mistake is that it should have declared war on Gaza, the way the United States declared war on Germany. So bloodthirsty. The Qatari Prime Minister and the country whose government he runs occupy a powerful and pivotal role into the biggest crises in the world today. They are the chief mediators in Gaza with unique and complicated access to both Israel and Hamas, and they are a critical back-channel broker

with the only hotline to both President Trump and to Tehran. But that doesn't mean they're all best friends, far from it. And in a searingly candid interview on this show, the Prime Minister made that crystal clear. He told me that Trump should cool down his apocalyptic threats if he wants to end the Iran war. So just maybe cool it a bit, President Trump. Well, we hope so.

Be very fair, it will be easier, much easier for us if there is no media at all. He revealed that he's never spoken to the new, Ayatollah amid U.S.-led rumours that he may already be dead. We didn't have any direct engagement. Do you believe he's alive? I don't know. And then his toughest talk yet on the Israeli Prime Minister,

he told me there's no doubt that Netanyahu is a war criminal for what explicitly he calls the genocide in Gaza. What's being committed in Gaza is war crimes. And whoever responsible for this is a war criminal. So he is. Yes. Well, ahead of our wide-rogy interview, Netanyahu used his speech at the UN General Assembly

to directly accuse Katow funding anti-Ira, propaganda. Most delegates walked out in protest, but Netanyahu's speech wasn't intended for them. It was for the cameras and the pro-Israel commentators who do his bidding, but most for all, it was for his voting base at home as he fights for his political life. Several foreign countries have spent untold billions to spread lies about my country. The first to do so was Qatar. decades ago, it started massively funding American universities and toxic media outlets like Al Jazeera. They did the same in Europe, by the way. And their goal was clear.

Brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America, hate the West. Well, those claims of sinister Qatari influence have become a major theme in U.S. debate, the likes of Ben Shapiro, Mark Levine, and Laura Luma, all strident and the U.S. made the case in his Qatar we should be worried about, not APAC. Sheikh Mohammed responded to these allegations in some detail. He also called them absurd and insulting. Israel accuses us, he argues, because it's exactly what they're doing themselves. We reject the premise itself.

Look, when Netanyahu came out and he attacked Qatar, he's just trying to gaslight the public. And for him, anyone, every celebrity, every journalist, every influencer, every student, who will be vocal about the war crimes and the genocides being committed in Gaza, he will start to blame others for this instead of looking at his own behavior

and his government behavior. In a moment, we'll debate this extraordinary war of words between two world leaders and its consequences for the US. We'll begin with Naftali Bennett, a former Israeli Prime Minister who wants to be the next his first to be the next Israeli Prime Minister, Bennett wants to designate Qatar as an enemy state, which would surely strip them of any role

in brokering peace in Gaza or Iran. And Mr. Bennett joins me now. Welcome back to Unsensit. You posted this week, Nassali Bennett, Netanyahu had an historic opportunity to declare Qatar an enemy and expose the entire world its involvement in the October 7th massacre.

Netanyahu missed the opportunity, and by doing so, he's whitewashing and legitimizing Qatar. Qatar is an enemy with hand stained by the massacre of our people. Without Qatar, there is no Hamas. We will declare Qatar an enemy, expel it from Israel and Gaza, and defeat Hamas. Now, I had to say that in my lengthy interview, 50-minute interview I did with the Qatari Prime Minister, he didn't shirk any questions, he didn't have any restrictions

of what I could ask him. He dealt with all this head-on. He was actually, it seemed to be pleased to deal with this head-on, particularly the issue of the so-called sinister influence. that Qatar is supposedly buying at university campuses of trying to corrupt the minds of young Americans and so on. And also about the specifics of how the Qatari money went into Gaza, how it was used by Hamas,

and significantly, it seemed to me when he was telling me, that Israel ticked off every single payment and was in charge of working out where the payments went. So let's start, first of all, with why you think they should be deemed an enemy of the state. Because, you know, looking at it from the sidelines, you look at it and go, well, Qatar is in the middle of all this. Right? Qatar is trying to broke a peace in Gaza because it has the connections with Hamas. It's trying to break a peace with the Iran war because it is, obviously, an ally of the United States, and it's also on good terms with Iran.

So this is how they position themselves as the peacemakers here. you clearly view them as something very different. Why? Well, they play a very sophisticated two-face strategy. On the one hand, they pretend to be all Western and all very advanced and progressive. On the other hand, let's look at the facts. They hosted al-Qaeda. They hosted Taliban for years,

and they were the base for the Taliban recapture of Afghanistan in 2021. They funded Hamas. They hosted Hamas leaders. They were, in a sense, the architects of the building of the Hamas monster. They are the epicenter of Muslim Brotherhood Islamists. And on October 7th, on October 7th, while Hamas was still killing and massacring our own people, Qatar came out with an official statement blaming Israel. So when you look at all the facts together, they are a terrorist.

And when you host and build Al Jazeera, which poisons the minds and hearts of hundreds of millions of Muslims to be anti-Semitic, well, that designates you as a terrorist state. That's why we need to designate Qatar as an enemy of Israel. I want to play what he says specifically about the issue of the funding of Gaza and to Hamas and how he explained his understanding of the Iraq. which involved Israel. Let's take a lesson. When it comes to the numbers and the amounts of money that's been funded by Qatar to Gaza and now the claim that these funds are going for Hamas military wing, it's totally absurd. The monthly funds that were going to Gaza were $30 million every month that's been very clearly requested by the Israelis, coordinated with the...

United States with the United Nations and it was going specifically through a mechanism that's been defined by the Israelis. It was going $15 million of this, buying gas from the Israelis to operate the power generation generators in Gaza. The other 15 millions are divided between assistance, 10 million as assistance to 100,000 families, $100 per family, and those families who are, living under the poverty line, verified by the Israeli security agencies, and the list every month is getting approved by them.

And there is five million that goes for the salary of the civil servants in Gaza. That's also their list is verified, and it goes to a bank that's been approved by the United Nations and the Israelis. And the Israelis, in fact, they were moving the money themselves to these banks in order to get dispersed for the people. So that's the Prime Minister of Qatar, squarely putting the blame here on Israel. He says all the money was approved by Israel. All families and individuals were approved by Israel.

Even the mechanism to which the money was paid out via banks was approved by Israel. You were Prime Minister of Israel in recent years. What part of what he said there, which has been independently verified by other bodies, which part of that is a lie? Well, let's unpack this. First of all, this was a colossal mistake of Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is true that in 2017 and 2018... That's different.

Well, hold on, hold on. In 2017, let me give you the facts. 2017-2018, it's correct. Netanyahu did initiate the Qatari payments to Gaza. This was under an appeasement policy, a horrendous policy of Mr. Netanyahu. and these dollars came in suitcases in cash from 2018, roughly till June of 21. When I became Prime Minister, I stopped this mechanism

because we knew that this cash was indeed going to the buildup of Hamas, and I shifted it towards a $100 payment in these credit cards, you know, prepaid credit cards, where families indeed went to the supermarket and bought with that. But that's one component of so many other things, because I'm talking way beyond that. I'm talking about funding for Al Jazeera employees that worked in Hamas, and they were part of the massacre on October 7th.

I'm talking about Al Jazeera itself, which poisons the minds and hearts of... Right, but just to be clear... Hundreds of millions of people. Right, but Natalie Bennett, to be clear, unless I misheard you, you are saying that when you became Prime Minister, you did continue with the system of funneling money into Gaza, right?

So this sort of narrative, which is built up, which I've heard many times from Israelis, which is this was all Qatari money, dirty money, funding Hamas, they knew what was going to happen, they got blood on their hands and so on. Here you've got successive Israeli prime ministers, including you who actually licensed this funneling of the money. No, let's be very clear.

stopped these cash suitcases and I insured that it went for humanitarian needs. But 2018 through 2021, roughly $1.4 billion went directly to Yaya Sinwar. And for example, the Sheikhah, when Yaya Sinwar, who is one of the worst despicable people on earth, when he was killed by Israel, God bless, she praised the guy. This is the mother of the prime minister. She praised them and talked about him as this sacred person. That's what we're talking about, this two-faced thing. And I doubt that you ask them about all of these elements.

Well, I asked him to lay out his understanding of how it worked. And it's interesting to me that you've conceded that even when you were prime minister, you continue to allow money to flow from Qatar into Gaza. So this was clearly something everybody knew about. You're disputing how you did it. You're disputing it was in suitcases. And clearly that goes to the heart of how much of the money was going for the reasons the prime minister to say.

It was in suitcases until June. I understand. Until June of 21. And then it went to humanitarian. But it's way beyond it. And I want to talk about post-October 7th because frankly in Israel, post-October 7th, we gradually realized that Qatar is this terror state.

All of us in Israel did not realize how despicable Qatar is until the October 7th in its aftermath. I also concede that. It was a wake-up call. The question is what we do now. And I believe that we have to designate Qatar as an enemy state because post-October 7th, they kept on strength in Hamas. And in fact, they want Hamas to prosper.

So if we want to dismantle Hamas, how can you allow Qatar to be? be the quarterback in Gaza if they want Hamas to prosper and we want them to be eliminated. I want to play, just on the issue of the cultural influence, you claim that they have been buying, particularly over Americans. This is the exchange we had about the universities, which I think is relevant to this. Qatar was the largest foreign source of gifts and contracts to American universities in 2025, spending $1.1 billion. No, there are people like Ben Shapiro and others who say things like Cadar spent $8.8 billion on

U.S. universities. A new report says they're using contracts with Georgetown and Northwestern to gain influence over curriculum, faculty hiring, and intellectual property to advance Islamist movements. Laura Luma, who has the ear of the president, posted on ex-I-I-Love Donald Trump. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. Qatar funds a Muslim Brotherhood, which funds BLM, Antifa, and every Islamic radical. in the United States, Qatar is financing terrorism and chaos in America. This is undeniable. It's a proven fact.

What do you say to these right-wing influences? Some of whom do have the ear of President Trump. When they're saying stuff like this, that you're waging a kind of concerted attempt to warp the minds of Americans through using universities as the conduit. Well, actually, it's absurd. All these universities have campuses in Qatar. can come and ask the universities at their campuses in Doha, the professors, if the government

is interfering in anything related to the academia of these universities. These kinds of false accusations about Qatar and using Qatar as a scapegoat to justify war crimes to justify students going against the war in Gaza is just trying to play the playing game. Netanyahu stood up in the podium. He criticized the mayor of New York. He criticized the influencers. He criticized the student. He criticized a lot of things in the United States.

Now, who's interfering and meddling with the United States politics? Is it Qatar or Israel? I mean, it's a fair question, isn't it? I mean, do you actually have any hard evidence that they've been systematically corrupting anyone? Or is it they're just doing what a lot of people, including Israel, to a degree, you know, financing places of learning, education centers and so on? where American universities have campuses in Qatar, for example. You know, it's easy to say, well, this is obviously all evil and they're obviously corrupting everyone's minds,

but can you actually prove that? Yes, we can. I can provide you a 60-page report of the FDD Brain Trust, which analyzed the Qatar investment in colleges in campuses in order to shift opinions, and I have to hand it over to Qatar. They did an amazing job. Think about the strategy.

It's a tiny island with 330,000 people. They have billions of dollars from oil, and they understood that in order to protect themselves and in order to create influence within the world and influence according to the Muslim Brotherhood strategy and doctrine, they can't use missiles, so they use paychecks. And that's what they've been doing. And proof is that on October 7th itself,

while we were still being massacred, this huge campaign started on all these campuses. How were they so prepared? They didn't wake up within hours prepare this amazing campaign. This is a Qatar strategy. You can watch Al Jazeera in Arabic, which is very different from El Jazeera in English.

You can see their ideology. It's radical Islamistic ideology. They want to take over the world with their Islamistic ideology. They just do it in a very intelligent and sly way. Tali Bennett, always appreciate you coming on, On the Sensor. Thank you very much. Thanks, peers.

Well, join me on the panel to debate all this. This is Anna Kisperin, the host and executive producer of the Young Turks, Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Josh Hammer, the Senior Council of the Article III Project, and author of Israel and Civilization, and Alan Dershowitz, the defense attorney and author of Why I Quit the Dems, and so should you. Anna Kaspari, welcome back to Uncensored.

to all of you, all been on many times before. You know, I had a very interesting conversation in London with the Prime Minister of Qatar. 50 minutes, no restrictions put on questions, didn't seem to shirk anything I put to him, laid out in quite some detail the responses to all the more incendiary charges that have been made against his country

since October the 7th, and you've heard a lot of them repeated there by Naftali Bennett. What's your view of Qatar? in August because they present themselves, not unconvincingly, I have to say, they can present themselves as a place trying to forge peace, not war, whether it be in Gaza or whether it be with the Iran War. I think that's pretty obvious, especially given the fact that they have attempted to serve as mediators, especially when it came to the ceasefire that never actually happened in Gaza

between Hamas and the Israelis. But, you know, one of the things that I want to make absolutely clear is I don't want any foreign country funding our universities or funding certain programs at universities, not because I dislike Qatar, but I don't like the fact that we do have foreign influence in major U.S. institutions, and I find that incredibly problematic. So I'm not giving them a pass.

But on that point, America does that to other countries' universities, right? So would you all... apply the same rule to America that they can't invest in any overseas universities. I can think of quite a few of my country that would find that a struggle financially if that was the case. I have a problem with it happening in my country, so it's up to the people living in foreign countries to decide for themselves whether or not they're comfortable with the U.S. funding universities or certain programs on their soil. But I'm just giving you a sense of where I landed on this issue, and I just see the foreign influence as problematic. Now,

Now, in regard to the line of questioning that you went down in that interview, I really appreciate you doing it because I do think that there's been this attempt to deflect from the obvious influence, undue influence that Israel has had over our political system by pointing fingers at other countries. And let me just note that Qatar is not an enemy to the United States and has done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, I would press the Israelis a little more to give us a sense of what they're complaining about. Netanyahu was pushing for funding for Hamas facilitated through Qatar three weeks before

October 7th happened. And we've all learned that Netanyahu was warned about October 7th over and over again, not just by the UAE, but also by Egypt. There was also intel that the IDF had come across a year prior to the attack happening. And for whatever reason, the Israeli government didn't take those threats seriously at all. Al-UD.D. Bates. That is a U.S. base located in Qatar. And we are, I mean, obviously, that's an important base if we're going to fight Israel's war against Iran. So I find it very strange that Naftali Bennett is pushing for us

to have this weird adversarial relationship against a country that we've actually been pretty closely aligned with, especially in the Middle East. Yeah, I mean, Alan Dershowitz, Qatar is a big U.S. ally. It has the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East. It's a strategic partner. And that's what made, for example, The Israeli attack on Doha was one of the, I think, one of the worst things that's happened in this whole recent business.

Because it went to the heart of, you know, this relationship between states in the Gulf states like Qatar, who have the American military bases. They were being targeted as they were mediating a meeting with Hamas officials. Now, he was clear to me, the prime minister of Qatar, that they, at the request of the United States, host the political, of Hamas in Doha. They're allowed to have offices and so on. America wanted them to do that. They see that as a useful thing that Qatar can do.

Just as they see Qatar now acting as mediator both in the war on Gaza and also the war on Iran. What do you feel about Naftali Bennett saying they should be classified an enemy of the state, a terror organization? Well, I've met both with the Emir of Qatar and with the Prime Minister of Qatar. and there's no doubt they play both ends against the middle. They do have a strong relationship with the United States. They can serve a positive role as mediator. On the other hand, we do know that they support Hamas.

They did give asylum to Hamas murderers. And so Israel and the United States have to view Qatar with great caution, use them to the extent that they will help bring about peace and distance themselves from them to the extent that they are encouraging Hamas terrorism. It's a mixed picture. The world is a complicated place, and Qatar is one of the most complicated places in this complicated world. And what about the issue of them funding programs at universities, particularly if it's, you know, offshoot of, say, Georgetown in Doha, whatever it may be?

I've not seen, I mean, Neftali Bennett says there's a 60-page report of evidence of how they've corrupted students and so on, but the argument put forward by the Prime Minister Qatar was they're not setting out to do that. They're doing what many, many countries do. They're financing and resourcing, you know, campuses around the world as America does, right, as many countries do, as the UK does. You know, do you agree with Anna that maybe America should stop all funding from foreign countries for university? campuses? And if so, what impact would that have? Well, I think they should. I think all countries should stop funding universities and other countries. I lectured on the campus of Northwestern University in Qatar, and there was an

organized effort to try to prevent me from speaking by student demonstrators. There was no doubt that this wasn't an objective academic analysis. I was invited to testify. and to speak as a cover. Look, it's, again, I don't take sides on this. I think that Qatar can play a positive and important role, but they can also play an extraordinarily negative role. And the very fact that they play as somewhat positive role sometimes enhances the negative role that they play as well.

So I think all countries should view the relationship with Qatar very cautiously. I do not think any American universities should. accept funding from foreign governments. And let's be very clear, Israel does not fund American universities. Qatar does, and there's no doubt that Qatar has undue influence on academic programs at places like Columbia, Georgetown, and other universities which accept Qatari money and allow the Qatari money to determine who's on the faculty and what the programs are. That's the danger that I think exists. with accepting Qatari money for American universities.

But to be clear, you don't think Israel wields any influence like that whatsoever? Oh, no. Israel has very little influence. Indeed, is quite negative. Today, when you want to win a Democratic primary, you have to come out against Israel. If you try to win a Democratic primary and are perceived as a Zionist, you lose the election. So today, Israel has little or no influence on American institutions, American elections, and American universities. Zero, negative, in fact. Well, there would be, surely, Alan, a lot of very high net worth donors of money, Jewish donors, Israeli donors, to American universities.

Should that start? Well, yeah, you know, universities, Americans donate buildings. They name buildings after them. But they don't have an influence on curriculum. Look, I taught at Harvard for it's now going to be 60 years with my emeritus. I have never seen any influence that donors, Israeli Zionists or Jewish Zionists, have on anything other than naming buildings. They don't have influence on the curriculum. They don't have influence on who the professors are.

Qatar does. That's really quite a difference. All right, Joe Kent, welcome back to Unsensored. What does I play you a slightly different clip? This is where, you know, I was trying to imagine. what it's like being the Qatari Prime Minister, trying to mediate at the moment between the Iranians and the Americans

when you've got President Trump firing off, we're going to annihilate you posts every 10 minutes. So this is how I put the question to it. I can't even imagine how difficult your job must be right now as mediator in a war where you have the President of United States, Donald Trump, firing off very incendiary posts in public on a regular basis, often threatening the annihilation of Iran,

and you've got to deal with the Iranians and try and persuade them to do a deal with this guy. And they've also worked out that they can wage an asymmetric war by controlling the Strait of Formos. Well, it's not an easy mediation, first of all. To put it mildly. I mean, it's challenging. It has, it comes with its challenges.

It comes with, you know, a lot of times, efforts that we are doing and, you know, we have a statement here and there. And by the way, we have also, there are in Iran politicians who are, you know, putting out inflammatory statements that also sets us back. But at the end of the day, we are trying to keep focusing on the positive of this. And the closed-door diplomacy is the most effective way that we see in order to get some progress. Would it be easier for you and everyone involved in trying to get to a deal here if the president cooled his jets on social media?

Well, look, to be very fair, it will be much easier for us if there is no media at all about this until we get to a solution. You know, he elaborated that, Joe, by saying that social media in particular is a new problem for any diplomats, politicians involved in secret mediation

because everything gets leaked and then blasted through social media and stuff. What does you make of what he said there? I mean, would it be... I mean, look, the ongoing debate is... Does what Trump puts on his social media posts, is it helpful? Is it unhelpful? You know, this completely contrary.

One minute, there's going to be a deal. Next minute, we're going to annihilate you. There's constant, contraband. rhetoric. What do you make of that, given your background? Well, obviously, the Qatari Prime Minister there was being very diplomatic when he said that, you know, he didn't really want to answer the question. I think at this point, the most detrimental thing that we have done is attack Iran twice during negotiations and then continue to escalate while saying, you know, we also want negotiations. So not only are we hurting our credibility

for the Iranians to get to the table with us, we're hurting the people that we're hurting the people we're trying to use as mediators like the Qataris. We're hurting basically at home as well, the Iranians that we're trying to work with who represent the remaining moderates there. So if we actually do want to get a deal, we do have to not just cool down the rhetoric, but we have to be willing to follow up on that rhetoric with action. So so far, us attacking the Iranians twice during negotiations and then signing the MOU and then immediately getting out of the MOU, that has hurt our credibility. And that is going to result in erratic, aggressive behavior from the Iranians. And we're seeing that right now. We keep thinking that the

Iranians are just going to remain static no matter what we do, no matter how many sanctions we throw at them, nor how many attacks, no matter how much rhetoric we use. We think they'll remain static, but they continue to attack us. And right now, Iran, whether we like to admit it or not, they have a lot of escalation dominance. So this has put us in a very precarious situation in this war. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, Joe, that when I spoke to about the economic damage to Qatar since the start of the war. It's been really severe. There's hardly any of the liquid natural gas

getting through the Strait of Hormuz, he said, and that is obviously a major part of their revenue. Iran responded to an attack from the Israelis and Americans by attacking Qatar's biggest refinery and caused enormous damage. So they, like a lot of the Gulf states, have had real economic hardship to deal with here. And again, if you're American,

this is one of your allies. This hosts thousands of your servicemen and women on its base there for you. And there they are getting, you know, attacked in a really bad and deliberate manner by Iran, purely for the actions of the Americans. Yeah, and not just that. I mean, the whole reason why, you know, Qatar and the rest of the Gulf hosted these American bases for all this time was, in theory, the security guarantees that we provided.

The theory was that if they were attacked, we would be able to not just defend our bases, but we would be able to defend them. Because we got into this war without putting a lot of forethought into what would happen, because we got into this war based on the Israelis timeline, those security guarantees have been shattered. So we're pretty lucky right now that we still actually have partners in the Gulf who are willing to step in as mediators. So if we continue down this road of continued escalation, continuing the war, not only we're going to hurt ourselves, We're going to get more of our troops killed. Our economy is going to suffer. But our allies in the region who at some point in time we're going to need again, they're going to be less likely and less inclined to come have our backs,

to mediate for us, to host our bases, to host our troops, et cetera. So again, this is just yet another factor of why this war has just been so detrimental to us. And we need to recalibrate, take down the rhetoric, get our troops out of there before we lose anyone else, and then get to the negotiating table in a responsible way as fast as possible with the Iranians. I don't know if we can make that happen right now with this administration. I don't know if the Iranians trust us enough to have actual negotiations. That's why I think we should use the tools, the carrots of sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets to get the Straits of Hormuz to

back up again. Yeah, Josh Hama, welcome back to you. There was a very interesting moment I felt in the interview when I just asked the Qatari Prime Minister to his face. Do you believe the new supreme leader, the new Iatollah, is actually alive. Because this goes to the heart of who is America negotiating with, right? There's a lot of conjecture that since the Iatollah, the dead Ayatollah was taken out a lot of his top people, it's been quite hard to work out who has the power and authority, who actually has the ability to negotiate properly. And at the heart of that, of course, is the Ayatollah's son actually alive? Now, he put a statement out, or a statement came out from him overnight.

So they are certainly saying he's alive. I'm putting a step, but there's been no video pictures of him, no still pictures. So this is when I asked the Qatari Prime Minister of that question. There's been no sign of the new Supreme Leader, the son of the slain supreme leader. Have you had any direct contact with him?

Is he definitely alive? Are you actively engaged in discussion with him personally? No, actually, we didn't have any direct engagement with the new Supreme Leader. I don't think that there is any foreign government engaged with him, but whatever we are getting from our engagement with the Iranian officials, it comes also after a verification by the Supreme Leader, and this is at least what we've been told. Do you believe he's alive? I don't know. I believe what I hear as a mediator,

I try just to be as objective as possible and to get to the result. Not as a pretty extraordinary moment of the interview, I felt, Josh, because there you've got, you know, one of the key people in mediating a possible peace deal here saying he's had zero dealings with the new supreme leader of Iran. What do you feel about that and what may be going on behind the scenes here? I mean, do you think he's alive or not?

Yeah, so what I've openly speculated, and again, it's all just speculation that's all that all of us here can do. I've said that he was probably severely injured, lacerated, perhaps he had a leg or a limb that was severed. Something severe happened in the initial decapitation strike in February 28th that took out his father. And I think that he has been hospitalized and or potentially in a coma since then. That's my guess. I think that he has been severely injured and that he is not functional physically, or mentally or intellectually is probably in a coma since then. But peers, I do want to talk about the broader issue here a bit of Qatar.

Look, I think it would be easy to talk about the fact that, yes, they have had a Taliban presence for years. They've had an al-Qaeda presence for years. Yes, all the suits of Hamas are in these five-star luxury hotels, the four seasons in Doha. Frankly, also ISIS. In fact, it was actually the branch of ISIS that was responsible for beheading the American journalist Stephen Sautloff in Syria in 2014. That exact branch of ISIS did their banking and financial services transactions out of an account in Doha.

The longtime spiritual leader of Muslim Brotherhood was a clerk by the name of Yusuf Al-Qaida Dari. He lived in Doha for a decade. So, but, frankly, don't take it. Anna, adult-treating al-Qaeda terrorists in their hospitals during the Syrian Civil War. Why was Israel treating al-Qaeda terrorists in their hospitals during the Syria? Well, I would ask, I would actually- The al-Qaeda terrorists in their hospital to answer that question. I would extrapolate that to, let's be clear, the new head of Syria is a former al-Qaeda terrorist,

and he's welcomed as a guest at the Oval Office by President Trump. So, you know, Nelson Mandela. And I oppose that. Nelson Mandela was categorized as a terrorist by Margaret Thatcher, and we know what happened to him when he came out of prison. Things change, times change, the strategic importance of countries, ebbs and flows the way they treat different groups, eds and flows. So I'm not sure that's a particularly effective stick to beat the way.

Well, before I was cut off, the point that I was going to make, which I want to proceed to make, is... Anna, for once in your wife, just shut off and let al-Qaeda terrorists in their hospitals, it's totally okay. peers, if I can actually get a word in here, what I was going to say is you don't to take it for me. That didn't finish the point, then I'll come to you. That didn't finish the point.

Then I'll come to you know to take it from Maltau'll finish your point, who I'm actually not a particularly big fan of, by the way, now they're here nor there. You can actually take it from the other Arab countries in the region. For virtually the entirety of Donald Trump's first term, there was something that probably few in this panel even remember known as the GCC crisis, the Gulf Cooperation Council crisis, whereby Saudi Arabia, the UE, Bahrain, and maybe a couple of the other smaller states, all had a full-on diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar. Qatar was severely isolated by the non-Islamas, non-Muslims, non-Muslims, support,

Arab states and the reason. Why? Because Qatar was doing and still is doing exactly what Naftali Bennett said they're doing, which is they are supporting and exporting Islamism, primarily through Al Jazeera, even more so than the universities. Al Jazeera, it is the entire reason is that the Saudis now have the competing network, Al-Arabia. Al Jazeera is the voice of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was the voice of bin Laden back in the day. That is literally why the Saudis emiris and Bahrain is blockaded and completely isolated this country for years and years and years. And to this day, Qatar has not changed their ways one iota. Yes, they have alludeid air base. Yes, they do a lot, not only for the United States, but because they can then

put in their chips and say, look at us, you're so reliant on us. On the question of university funding, I think it's very simple peers. They're the number one funder, more than China, more than your country, the UK, France, Russia, whatever, the number one funder of American higher education since 9-11. Frankly, this is not a particularly difficult topic. It's actually very simple. Ask the simple question, qui bono, who benefits? Who benefits from Qatar funding? They wouldn't do it if there's no return on investment.

Obviously, Qatar benefits from that. That's a fair point. But let me ask you, then how do you feel about the $400 million plane the Qataris gave to President Trump? I oppose it. I oppose it since day one. I think it's terrible.

Okay. Anna, let me play you a clip. This is where I asked the province of Qatar directly. We think it's the first time he's responded with a clear unequivocal statement about whether Netanyahu is a war criminal. Let's take a look.

Do you think he's a war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu? Well, of course, what's being committed in Gaza is war crimes. And whoever responsible for this is a war criminal. So he is. Yes. Unequivocal, Netanyahu is a war criminal because he says, and he said it elsewhere in the interview, he believes he's waged a genocide in Gaza. how significant is it that you have the Prime Minister of Qatar now saying that publicly?

I think it's the bare minimum, and I think that that region of the world is full of leaders, who for the most part have been incredibly cowardly in the face of a genocidal terror state like Israel. And let me be very clear right now. We are not fighting a war on behalf of Qatar. We have not fought wars in the Middle East on behalf of any country other than Israel. Just between 2025 through August of this year, the Israel lobby has already spent close to $150 million on candidates, elections, basically buying our politicians and our political system. Okay, I'm sorry, there are all sorts of military systems that American taxpayers were forced to pay into, and our researchers were forced to develop. Iron beam is one example.

and then you have the Arrow 2 military system. Both were totally created and funded for by the United States, and our Congress decided to vote to hand over the IP to both of those systems to the Israelis, who then sold it to some of our adversaries, including, according to the CIA, including China. Like the fact that we are allied with this country that's so thirsty for war, I mean, we're not even done with Iran yet,

and they're already war mongering about Qatar and Turkey, When is enough, enough, Josh? Can you please explain to me? When are the Israelis, when are the Zionists done sucking the life out of this country on behalf of that tiny, irrelevant, war-thirsty country in the Middle East? Can you please explain that to me?

We're sitting here pretending like Cutter's the problem? Please. It's so sick. It is so sick. But yeah, Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, is a war criminal, and he's not the only one in Israel, who happens to be one. Okay, Alan Dershowitz, there are no...

Yeah, well, the question I'll be... There's no country. Go on, please. You answer. My point is that John Spencer, who's the head of West Point's study of urban warfare, has correctly said that no country

in the history of warfare has ever done war to protect the civilians of enemy countries. Yeah, but unfortunately, Alan, unfortunately, I have to say, I have to jump in there because... Don't insult our intelligence. He came on this show, and he came up very, very...

very short, unfortunately, because when I began to press him on specific numbers that he could use... Well, I'll give you specific numbers. But he had no idea. He actually couldn't say how many civilians had died. All he knew was the ratio of combat to civilian was the greatest ever. I said, well, how do you know that if you don't know the number? Well, you do know the number because Hamas gives a number. Even if you take the Hamas false numbers, the ratio is approximately two and a half to one,

which compares to a seven to one ratio for NATO and other Western countries. There's been no country in the history of urban warfare who has had a lower ratio of civilian to combatant deaths. And that's just a fact. And the idea that you call Israel a genocidal country when it has fed its enemies, inoculated its enemies, and protected its enemies, given hospital care for its enemies. It is just... An anti-Semitic... Alan, what did you think?

Alan, what did you think? When you saw... Alan, when you saw the Google Earth images, and this showed the state of Gaza now with 75 to 80% of the entire Gaza Strip just raised, gone, vaporized, whatever you want to call that, that is a systematic destruction of Gaza. I mean, you wouldn't dispute the categorization.

It's just, it's, I would. The, the, the destruction is a result of the fact that Gaza, that Hamas has used civilian houses and civilian tunnels. Right, but you wouldn't argue its destruction. You wouldn't argue about the scare of the destruction. The destruction, the destruction is the fault of Hamas. Right. Right. It's never, Israel's fault.

Never, never. Israel's mistake is it never should declare war against? But let me, let me. Let me ask you, Alan, do you feel when you see those pictures, Alan? Oh, yes. You guys are so delusional. It's destroying 80% of the Gaza Strip, a proportionate response to October the 7th. That's the question.

Absolutely. And in fact, Israel's mistake is it should have declared war on Gaza, the way the United States declared war on Germany. It didn't declare war on the Nazi party. It declared war on Germany. Hamas is controlling. of Gaza. And many of the people who are in Hamas are controlling the people of Gaza. And so Israel is fighting a war against a nation, the nation of Gaza that elected Hamas to be its leaders. And yes,

Israel is destroying the capacity of Hamas to repeat October 7, which it has promised it would repeat over and over and over again. And it has succeeded. Look, Jewish blood is no longer cheap the way it was during the Holocaust, the way it has been for many years. Israel is fighting back against its enemies, and its enemies are Hamas and its enemies are the people who support Hamas and allow their houses to be used for terrorist tunnels.

Okay, yes. Yeah, I don't, that part is clearly, that's part of the problem. I agree, but let me come to Joe Kent. You know, the problem with all this is that Israel and pro-Israelis come on my show they all say this. They all say, we have to do this.

It's going great. This is what we had to do. We're going to stop it. A, I don't think it's going to stop anything. I think when you have this kind of wholesale slaughter, we've seen in Gaza, in southern Lebanon, in wherever. You're going to make more enemies than you take out.

And I think I read a report from the CIA, actually, a couple of months ago, saying they thought for every one Hamas terrorist who'd been killed, there maybe five more had come through with the same ideologies. I don't really buy into the argument that Israel is... You can say the same thing about Nazi Germany. You could. You could say the same thing about Nazi Germany. No, we defeated Nazi Germany.

And they didn't repeat their atrocities. We did. And the same thing in Japan. And Israel is doing the same thing. Correctly so. I was about to say history will determine whether the same thing will happen here. I'm not convinced it will, but history will determine that. I don't know, obviously. What's the alternative? What's the alternative? What's the alternative? Just to let them do it? What I made to Joe Ken is that notwithstanding this sort of impassioned defense of this, from pro-Israeli guests, I get, the reality is the longer this has gone on,

the more that the Israelis have bombed Gaza, southern Lebanon, Iran, the more Syria. The more this has gone on, the more unpopular Israel has become around the world, and the particular in America. And the stronger it's become. And the stronger it's become. Well, I'm not sure that becoming, and the stronger it's become. I'm not sure.

And Israel has to rely on its strengths. And not friends. Not friends like Casperin. Okay. Yeah. Let Joe respond. Asperian. Let Joe respond.

This is actually, this is a question for Joe. So Joe, so there's the dilemma, isn't it? For Israel and Israelis, they're bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. And maybe people think they're justified in a lot of the bombing. But it is making Israel increasingly. global pariah. When you respond to a terrorist attack like October 6th with a campaign basically of genocide and eradication, you are going to get more terrorism that blows back on you.

That's going to happen to the Israelis. And because we are paying for this lock, stock and barrel, it will blow back on us. The vast majority of domestic terrorist attacks last year in 2025 that happened here in America, the perpetrators of those attacks, whether they were. secular or whether they were Muslim, they cited the atrocities in Gaza for the reason that they conducted the attack here in America. The vast majority of terrorism we have experienced here in the homeland, there has been some reference to our support for the state of Israel and the way the state of Israel conducts themselves. Now, I took a lot of issue, Alan, with what you said, hang on,

hang on with what you said about Israel conducting themselves in a very civilized and methodical way inside Gaza. I fought in Fallujah. I fought in Ramadi. I fought in Najaf. I spent the vast majority of my young life doing counterterrorism operations in urban environments. The U.S. military does not behave like the Israeli defense force.

And for us to continue to fund the Israeli defense force while they commit genocide, while they kill and target civilians. Yes, doing counterterrorism operations in an urban environment, there will be some, there will be some civilian casualties. It's casualty tosses of the U.S. military is absolutely disgusting and i have had this hold back and floor for that stupid guess oh whatever his name was last time was on this show for us to continue to support the state of is not genocide we will have more terrorism that will blow back on us you guys have no idea what you're

talking about because you've never actually served what he's fascinating joe that the former director of counterterrorism in nice case government is just taking josh are you going to go saying as their motivation. Josh, are you going to go saddle up? You can go on list. Are you going to go on list? Of course not. Joe, first of all, you have no idea what I've been saying about the Iran war.

I think it's been, I think they've been very, very mishandled essentially since the first ceasefire in April. So you have no idea talking about that. But I just think, I think it's fascinating that the director of counterterrorism is just taking a point blank term the subjective motivations that are stated by terrorists on this soil. I mean, in what other ways is the former American director of counterterrorism? Is he just going to, Anna, your buddy here was actually just talking about.

Just answer the question, Josh. Hang on, don't all talk about, please. These don't all talk of once. Josh, to be clear, to be clear, Hang on, Josh, hang on, please, don't all talk about it. Josh, to be clear, Joe Kent very patiently spelled out his service record fighting for the United States. Which is great. And that's honorable.

In urban areas, like Fallujah and others. and he said he's never seen American forces behaving the way that Israeli forces are done in Gaza. Look at the numbers. I would say that ought to give two people on the panel to his right on this screen, pause for thought, surely, that their pronouncements about just how humane the IDF has been in Gaza may not be the reality. If you've got a mound of his experience. It is the reality.

It is the reality. He says it isn't. Look at the numbers. The numbers. He says it's wrong. He's wrong. He's focused on one war. This isn't even a close case.

This isn't even a close case for genocide. Anyone who uses the term genocide. Things are going so well. A liar, a bigot, and defies reality. And won't let international journalists there. That's why everything's going so great. The journalists were Hamas members. That's why they're carrying out all of that.

Alan, Alan, you talk about, Alan, you talk about light. We know over 220-od journalists have been killed in Gaza, of which it is supposedly there are up to 50 who may have... Wait a minute, let me finish my sentence, please. They're Hamas, right? Up to about 50 have been reported to have had links, however tenuous with Hamas. That leaves nearly 200 other journalists who didn't, right? So this idea that all the journalists in Gaza are Hamas operatives is a lie, a stinking line.

No, but they're working with Hamas. And the best way, Alan, if I may, the best way to establish the truth about what war crimes have been committed or otherwise in Gaza, as I've repeatedly said on this show for several years now,

is lift the ban on international journalists that Netanyahu has maintained. I agree with that. Let them in. Then we can work out just how much should be allowed in. I agree. But the longer they won't do it,

I agree with that. The more I think they're hiding something. What they're hiding is the fact that many of the journalists work with Hamas and are Hamas members, and it's very hard to distinguish the Hamas members from the honest journalists, so they overreact. But I think they ought to allow all international journalists to go in and explore this. I'm not afraid of the truth. Israel has done a very good job in light of all the factors that they have to face,

And in the end, history will prove that this war, this war, this attack on Iran is one of the most important preventions of a nuclear holocaust, much like what would have happened if the British and the French had invaded Germany in 1935 and prevented them from becoming the country that produced the Holocaust. I got to say, this war will go down in history as a positive step in preventing a new war. nuclear holocaust, and I think history will look at it very positive. I think, I've got to say, we've got to wrap up. I've got to say, I think history is going to record that this war was one of the biggest disasters that's ever been, that's ever been waged. And I think it will cost Netanyahu's job. I think it will cost Trump, the House and the Senate in November.

I might be wrong. And it would have cost Winston. It would have cost Winston. It would have cost Winston Churchill. History will judge. History will judge. I'm just saying. I think it's been a fiasco.

I think all the things Netanyahu told Trump would happen have not happened other than the first one of taking out the Ayatollah. I think it's quite clear. That's the most... No, no, they took out the nuclear... The Iranians have worked. They set back the nuclear reactor.

They set back the nuclear program. Talking to the... Yeah, but we were told last year we'd taken back their nuclear program decades. Remember? The President of the United States, after the 12th day war, we put back their program decades.

turned out we hadn't put it back eight months. But if it's... Why do you believe all this? If it's put back two years or three years, that's a very positive development. If the Holocaust had been put back five years, 50 million lives would have been saved of innocent people who were killed by the Germans when their war could have been prevented. Winston Churchill would have been attacked if he had engaged in a preventive war

against Nazi Germany, 1935, and it would have been the best thing that could have happened. I think this war will go down in history as a preventive war that stopped a nuclear holocaust. Okay. I think it will go down as a cataclysmic disaster that America should never have got involved in. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. History. History will judge. History is an honest broker. We'll all know. We'll see how it plays out. Thank you to my panel. Very Spirit of debate. Thank you very much. Peers Morgan Unsensored is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask only one simple thing.

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