Top Israeli Diplomat Argues Qatar Is Behind Rising Anti-Semitism In U.S. — Day After Trump Accepted Their Luxury Jet Gift

Ofir Akunis, the consul general of Israel in New York, joined Fox News anchor John Roberts on Thursday to discuss the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC from the night before. Akunis used much of the interview to slam Qatar and accuse the Gulf state of “playing a double game” by both supporting Hamas and whipping up hate on U.S. college campuses while also trying to be a close U.S. ally.

Qatar recently created controversy by gifting President Donald Trump a luxury jet to use. Trump officially accepted the plane on Wednesday.

“When you take a look at the increase in anti-Semitic incidents here in the United States over the past couple of decades, it really is striking the degree to which they have increased. There were 9,354 anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. last year. That’s a 5% increase from the previous year, but take a look at this. Over the past five years, these incidents have increased 344% and nearly 900% over the past 10 years. That is epidemic proportions,” began Roberts.

“I agree, but I want to return to the Qatar issue, because I think that this is the point,” Akunis replied, adding:

With all due respect, I know that everybody in the United States already knows that they are supporting the pro-terrorist moves on the campuses and on the streets and among all the universities. So they are playing a double game, you know, and their double game is that they are hosting the negotiation to release the hostages from the tunnels that they built with their own money under the Gaza Strip. It’s money from Qatar. It is not from anywhere else around the world. And now it is another double game. Why? Because there are behind all these mobs.

You cannot protest these days in our world without money. Someone needs to give you money. I’m not saying that 100% of the money is from Qatar, but most of the money is from Qatar. So I’m calling from here to Qatar to stop their double game. If they want to negotiate with Israel, if they want to be part of the new Middle East, they are more than welcome. But they must stop all the money that they’re actually transferring every week, every month to the mobs here in the universities.

“We do know that of the Middle East nations, Qatar is the top donor to U.S. universities, and President Trump was there just last week speaking with the Emir al-Thani. So maybe some questions to the White House about whether or not they are, as you charge, playing a double game here. Ofir, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it at this difficult time,” Roberts concluded.

As Roberts noted, Trump was in Doha, Qatar, recently during his first overseas trip of his second term and has long had close family business ties with the Gulf state through his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.