Quartet Information Ministers call to confront Qatar’s hate speech

CAIRO – 29 October 2017: Egypt, UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia ministers of information issued a statement on Sunday in Bahrain in which they stressed the importance of confronting hate speech and extremist rhetoric promoted by Qatar

The Arab Quartet held a meeting in which they assured the importance of confronting Qatar’s supportive role to terrorism.

They were invited by Bahrain information Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi to resume the talks that was started in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, concerning Qatar’s terrorism.

The statement was issued following Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad's remarks to American channel of CBS News, 90 Minutes program. Qatar’s emir said that any military act against his country by the Arab anti-terrorism quartet would end up in chaos.

Tamim told his host, Charlie Rose, that U.S. President Donald Trump has offered to broker negotiations between Qatar and its neighbors at Camp David to end the five-month blockade imposed by the Arab Quartet. He added that the initiative was introduced during their meeting in New York in September, and yet no country has responded to this initiative.

On June 5 Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen decided to cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, hurling allegations that the state supports terrorism. Ports and airspaces were cut off to Qatari vessels.

The countries listed 13 demands to be met by Qatar, including severing ties with terrorist groups, closing down the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera satellite channel, downgrading ties with arch-rival Iran and the closure of a Turkish air base in Qatar.