No, Qatar did not threaten to shut world’s gas supply amid the Israel-Hamas conflict

Hyderabad: A video of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is being widely shared on social media with the claim that he is reportedly threatening to shut off the gas supply to the world in protest against the bombing in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The tweet of the video was captioned, “Big news: ‘If the bombing of Gaza doesn't stop, we will stop gas supply of the world.’ — Emir of Qatar. A big blow to Germany who signed a major contract with Qatar. (sic)”

A Facebook post shared the photo of the Emir with onscreen text claiming the same.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, Qatar is the third-largest exporter of natural gas and has been a key supplier to Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false.

We performed a keyword search to find media reports on the alleged statement by the Emir of Qatar but could not find any. We could find any credible news reports that Al Thani or any Qatar government official has threatened to cut off gas supplies. News of this magnitude, if true, would have been reported by the mainstream media houses.

Moreover, we found a recent video of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in conversation with Al Thani and Qatar’s prime minister at a press conference published by C-Span on October 13, 2023. On analyzing the entire video, we could not mention gas supplies being suspended in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.

We also found a report by Doha News, published on October 12, 2023, debunking the viral claim.

The report states, “An account previously exposed to have links with the UAE has posted fake news on Qatari threats to cut gas supplies to the world if Israel continues to bombard Gaza. Disinformation experts have exposed an account “masquerading” as a Qatari news source that has spread false reports on an alleged Qatari threat to cut its gas supplies to the world if Israel continues to bomb the besieged Gaza Strip.”

The ‘Qatar Affairs’ account which shared the post on X (formerly known as Twitter), alleging that “the State of Qatar has threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza does not stop” has now been suspended by X.

Lastly, we found the original version of the video on the YouTube channel of Al Jazeera Mubashir on May 14, 2017. The video shows Al Thani’s speech at the Doha Forum, where he expressed his feelings regarding the Israel-Palestine issue but did not mention anything about halting gas supply to the world.

Hence, it is evident that the viral clip is old and taken out of context through mistranslation to spread a false narrative about Qatar’s stand on the Israel-Hamas conflict.