US should seek Khaled Mashaal’s extradition
Qatar’s willingness to serve as a safe haven for terrorists has been an uncomfortable sticking point in its relations with the West
On Sept. 3, federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint originally filed under seal in February in which they charged six senior members of Hamas with planning and carrying out years of murderous terrorist attacks in Israel, including the Oct. 7 massacre.
In the six-month period that the complaint was under seal, three of the six men charged — Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa — were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza (Deif and Issa) and a bomb in Tehran (Haniyeh). That leaves Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, who continues to hide in the tunnels of Gaza; Ali Barakeh, a senior Hamas official based in Beirut; and Khaled Mashaal, another senior Hamas member who lives in Qatar, to answer the charges.
The seven-count indictment was made public at a politically sensitive time for the White House, as the Biden administration continues efforts to save cease-fire talks in the Gaza war even after the devastating murder by Hamas of six hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Prosecutors have little hope of extraditing either Sinwar or Barakeh at this time, but Mashaal in Qatar presents a different story.
Qatar is a U.S. ally but does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. As such, there is no traditional mechanism in place for the U.S. to “demand” Mashaal’s extradition. But the lack of a formal extradition treaty does not end the matter.
Friendly allies are supposed to cooperate with one another, particularly on sensitive issues. Qatar’s willingness to serve as a safe haven for terrorists has been an uncomfortable sticking point in its relations with the West and has clouded that country’s efforts to play the “honest broker” in the multi-level negotiations between Israel and Hamas. It is time for the United States to confront that issue directly with Qatar and the Mashaal indictment presents a perfect opportunity to do so.
The indictment lays out a decades-long criminal enterprise by Hamas and the indicted leaders that includes conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death and conspiracy to support terrorism resulting in death. The charges cannot get much more serious than that.
A U.S. request to extradite Mashaal from Qatar to answer the charges will enable the administration to show just how seriously it takes the criminal process it has initiated and its willingness to act in support of its repeatedly declared outrage over the multiple cold-blooded murders by Hamas of U.S. citizens. And it will bring to a head the challenge to Qatar’s immoral willingness to provide safe harbor to terrorists.
If Qatar refuses to cooperate, the U.S. has remedies. Among other things, it could impose secondary sanctions against any person, entity or country that does business with, harbors or supports Hamas leaders who are already under direct sanction from the U.S.
The administration needs to call out Qatar’s coddling of terrorists and bring an international criminal to justice. The administration should seek Mashaal’s extradition from Qatar and insist that he answer the charges regarding his murderous activities. PJC
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