The government of Qatar claims it has been the victim of cyberattack after inflammatory statements were attributed to the Arab nation’s ruler. But the “fake news” is resonating because it exposed all too real tensions roiling nominal Middle Eastern allies.
The episode began earlier this week after Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar’s ruling monarch, met with a group of military cadets. The Qatar News Agency (QNA) followed with an unremarkable summary of it. But soon, an altered version of the press article went out over the wire, in which he was quoted making several divisive statements.
The altered story suggested that Tamim had discussed growing tension in the Qatar-U.S. relations under Trump, while voicing support of Hamas and Hezbollah, two regional terrorist groups.
The Qatari government also stated that a government Twitter account had been hacked as well. The hacked account had said Qatar was in the process of withdrawing its ambassadors from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
In the false QNA dispatch, the Emir was quoted as saying “There is no wisdom in harboring hostility towards Iran.”
The Qatari government attributed the altered news summary and tweets to unknown hackers. Qatar has also launched an investigation into the incident.
David Weinberg, an analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, said the decision of Saudi and Emirati media outlets to “push the story” after it had been discredited is telling. The Saudis and UAE went even further, however, blocking access to the website of Al-Jazeera, which was running stories debunking the altered stories and tweets. On Thursday Bahrain and Egypt also blocked access to Al-Jazeera. Egypt also banned access to other media sites including Mada Masr, one of Egypt’s few independent media organizations.
“That is indicative of the frustration with Qatar’s irresponsible conduct in recent years,” Weinberg said.
That “irresponsible conduct” Weinberg referred to includes Qatar’s persistent ties to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and other relationships that threaten the Middle East’s stability.
In 2014, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia withdrew their ambassadors from Doha for several months over Qatar’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization in Egypt and all three of Qatar’s Gulf neighbors.
This isn’t the first time Qatar has come under cyberattack. Several Qatari charitable institutions — most notably the state-funded Qatar Foundation — have been hacked in the past. Other attacks have had an economic impact. Last year, Qatar National Bank had some of its client’s personal information leaked online in a cyberattack. In 2012, the Qatari natural gas company RasGas suffered a major cyberattack along with the Saudi Aramco oil company. Those attacks were linked to Iran, and may have been in retaliation for the Stuxnet attack. Qatar launched a national cybersecurity strategy in 2014, but was caught flat-footed by Tuesday’s attack.
Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani said in a news conference Thursday that Qatar was facing a “hostile media campaign.”
The website of the Qatar News Agency was taken off line, and remained so as of May 30.
It is unclear who might be behind the recent hack, but Iran is a likely culprit experts say. No group has claimed responsibility, but that’s where the propaganda’s gist, including its references to Iran and Hezbollah, seem to point.
Whether the origin of the attacks is Iranian or another entity entirely, they certainly accomplished their apparent mission to increase regional discord.
Joseph Hammond is a contributor at the American Media Institute. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
