The Qatari Trojan Horse

It is possible that hundreds…even thousands of analyses of Qatar’s gift of a $400- million- dollar, one-of-a-kind designer airplane, to President Donald Trump on his recent visit to the Middle East… have caught your attention.  As is my habit… I did not read any of the hysterical opinion pieces, knowing full-well that eventually, I would need a clear head without other voices shouting at one another, if I should decide to write about what has transpired.

It is likely that many of today’s young adults have never heard about the original “Trojan Horse”. In brief, Greek mythology tells the story of what was called “The Trojan War”, which is claimed to have taken place around the twelfth or thirteenth century B.C. It is a tale about a war raged by the Greeks against the City of Troy, during which they pretended to have given-up the battle and retreated by sea to a nearby island. Legend has it that they left outside the gates to the city, a massive wooden horse which they built to house their warriors in-wait, in order to enter the palace (or perhaps it was a walled city?)  to conquer the unsuspecting enemy. The term now refers to any apparent gift, given for sinister and unexpected purposes.

As a dual Israeli-American citizen, who has lived in Jerusalem for almost thirty years- the obsession which Israelis have perpetually exhibited over their Prime Minister’s acceptance of expensive imported cigars and champagne has always troubled me. Even the gift of a necklace worth a few thousand dollars to Israel’s first lady, means very little by world standards of corruption and the buying-of-favors.  That there has been a never-ending court case against Netanyahu for accepting bribes such as these from wealthy admirers, suddenly seemed so ridiculous that I found myself laughing aloud this morning when these thoughts entered my head. Contrast please, any present received by Netanyahu from friends and admirers…with the $400 million jet just gifted to President Donald Trump and the American government… and there appears to be nothing for Israelis to complain about. Well, there is always something for them to complain about…but let’s stay on-subject!

There is much to think about… and to discuss regarding this particular gift.  Whatever snippets I have gleaned from the media pundits whom I did not successfully avoid on this issue… focus on the absolute immorality of taking anything of value from Qatar.  This issue, in and of itself is reason enough to have refused, albeit politely, such an obscenely expensive gift.  The problems only begin there.

I have been advised that in recent years it has been deemed unacceptable for US Presidents to accept gifts either for themselves or for the nation. My personal experience might serve as an example. When “the Donald” was President of the U.S., the first-time-around, my dear friend, renowned Israeli sculptor Daniel Kafri ZLB, approached me because he wanted to “gift” the President with one of his bronze reliefs, as a “thank-you” for having announced that the United States formally (and finally…) recognized that Jerusalem indeed is Israel’s eternal capital and that the United States would officially move its embassy to Jerusalem. You may recall the ceremonies which surrounded the momentous occasion.  This specific work of Kafri’s art depicted ancient trumpets in an exquisite design, and Daniel offered the piece (a retail value of about $25,000 ) as a gift to the United States to be placed in the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.  There was of course, symbolism in the trumpets… symbolic for Trump himself.  It was quite simply a “thank you” present. I was able to enlist many associates in the effort to facilitate the gift.  We were advised that it would not be possible to give the bronze work-of- art to Trump himself (which was Kafri’s first thought), because US Presidents have strict rules against accepting anything… lest it be misconstrued as a bribe. Fast forward to this week’s gift to the United States by Qatar.  When asked by one reporter how he could accept such an enormously valuable item from Qatar- his rather flippant response was “Would you have been happier if I had offered to pay for it?”  (This is not a direct quote…but captures the essence of his response.)

Qatar has single-handedly attempted to destroy the moral fiber of the West.  They have invested billions of dollars creating “Middle East Chairs” in the highest Academic institutions of the United States. They did not stop there… they did the same in the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. The bastions of Western thought, they realized, required a dose of subtle, long-term investment… Qatari style. Having gifted outrageous sums to the universities, Qatar then had the opportunity to shape the curriculum of that which was taught regarding not only the Middle-East, but Western values as well.  Even worse, those same professors hired to warp fresh young minds, simultaneously taught their students that America is essentially evil…unforgivably flawed. They were taught that young adults should be ashamed of their nation and that which took hundreds of years to develop. How could a nation promotion Islamic- fundamentalist ideology better seek to undermine the concept that all citizens are entitled to  inalienable rights, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech? It only took a few decades to twist the minds of naïve University students to believe that America was evil from its conception because the continent was conquered (as most lands have been throughout history)…  because indigenous people were displaced and killed during ensuing wars.

University students today are being taught that they were born into “American-Original-Sin”, rather than being taught to be proud of the evolution of their nation, or an appreciation of how democracies evolve and mature. Today’s students, being taught by teachers who studied under professors which skewed their curriculums to support shame and embarrassment rather than appreciation and encouragement as to how to protect and expand upon the importance of preserving a respect for history, and an obligation to participate in their societal structure in order to ensure an improved quality of freedom and life for all.

The American struggle against the inequality of black Americans is taught, not as a journey to be respected for its accomplishments, but as a lesson in white-greed and slave-ownership. Never-mind that slavery existed all over the world, throughout history, and that the Egyptian’s built their pyramids with slave labor, Never-mind that Qatar today essentially has its own forced slaves who have built its edifices and infrastructure.  Never mind- that China has paid its workers as little as $50-$100 a month while the West has a minimum wage often in excess of $15-$20 per hour… for absolutely everyone. That today’s students are taught to revile their national heritage and to respect their enemies which are intent on ultimately conquering the West on behalf of Fundamentalist Islam, is reason enough to distrust any gift proffered from Qatari sources.  The West has already paid for this gift… with its ignorance of Qatar’s intentions and devious insinuation into our bastions of higher education. Their cleverly targeted gifts to Universities have facilitated Qatar’s ability to influence our future leaders, and to create an ethos of shame in place of the deserved pride to which democratic nations are entitled.

The Qataris have boundless oil money, and they want to spread their influence throughout the world. Thus far, they are more than successful. Qatar funded Hamas’ purchase of missiles, bombs, and the building of their terror underground tunnels which continue to hide the Hostages abducted from Israel on October 7^th 2023. They pretend to be the “neutral” negotiator on behalf of the hostages who are being starved, beaten, abused, and murdered… by those whom they funded.  These are the same men in their customs tailored suits who having watched the Hamas atrocities of October 7^th, 2023 on their television screen in real-time,  jointly got onto their knees to pray to Allah in appreciation.  These are the duplicities men who have just gifted the glamorous airliner to be the White House- in- the- air, for this US President as well as those which will follow.

It is impossible to watch all of this unfold without thinking of it as a poorly written Hollywood script for a blockbuster film. In that world of creative imagination, the climax of the film most certainly would be a scene where the US President, en-route to an international conclave, would be travelling in this luxury jet… and suddenly, the audience would see the jet explode before their very eyes.

This possibly certainly is in the minds of America’s security establishment. Hence, the acceptance of this Trojan Horse, will require months…possibly even years of dis-assembling to look for electrical and digital systems installed specifically for the purpose of spying on America. The experts will be searching for any technology which could serve to assist a future assassination attempt. They will be looking for explosives somewhere in the airplane’s infrastructure or devices which might send signals to an approaching drone equipped with a bomb.  Just think of how many technical geniuses will need to redirect their efforts from preventing other impending dangers, in order to thoroughly investigate every square inch of this gifted- plane. This entire scenario has the sophistication of a magician’s parlor-party trick.  Redirection is the name of the game.  While the specialists are immersed in looking for spyware, what will they not be attending to… which will allow for other terror activity to succeed?

There is absolutely nothing about this “gift” which is to the benefit of either the President, nor the citizens of the United States of America…other than its purported price tag.  It is quite impossible to fathom how this gift from Qatar will enhance America one iota. It is clear that President Trump sees it as a coup, and is oblivious to the inferred obligations and dangers which come with its acceptance.

It would behoove the United States Congress to reverse its stand on allowing the acceptance and the obligation of this ridiculous and potentially dangerous symbol of further Qatari influence.