Sadaf Afreen, who is a journalist according to her bio and has a history of spreading fake and false misinformation on the X platform, made a controversial claim in a recent tweet (Archived link). She claimed that, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organisation, Qatar’s King Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani threatened to cut off world gas supply until the bombardment in Gaza stopped. She wrote, “king of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing on Gaza did not stop.”
BREAKING NEWS:
— Sadaf Afreen صدف (@s_afreen7) October 11, 2023
King of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani "Threatened to stop gas supplies to the WORLD if the bombing on Gaza did not stop"#Gaza_under_attack #FreePalastine #Gaza #IsraelPalestineWar pic.twitter.com/nT3GKCRDR9
Sadaf Afreen made her allegation regarding Qatar’s threat to shut off global gas supply by citing a tweet from the account @Qattar_Affairs (Archived link), which has made the same claim.
دولة قطر لوّحت بوقف إمدادات الغاز عن العالم ان لم يتوقف القصف على غزة #طوفان_الأقصى | #فلسطين pic.twitter.com/1zIYLVhP9E
— شؤون قطرنا 🇶🇦 (@Qattar_Affairs) October 11, 2023
Kashif Arsalan (Archived link), like Sadaf Afreen, another fake news peddling account and ardent Hinduphobic hate monger, used his X account to make the same claim.
"The State of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop".@TamimBinHamad pic.twitter.com/7ajjouVYpn
— Kashif Arsalaan (@KashifArsalaan) October 12, 2023
After these renowned handles with large followings posted this unverified information, the claim of Qatar threatening to cut off the world’s gas supply got a lot of traction on the X platform. Many accounts posted the same news report with the same claim. News Bulletin (Archived link), Ali Shah (Archived link), Adv Kashif Kamran Khan (Archived link), Mohsin Khan (Archived link), Abu Huraira (Archived link), and Arfaat Karim (Archived link) are the handles that fell for this unverified news report.
King of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani threatened to stop gas supplies to the WORLD if the bombing on Gaza did not stop. #Qatar #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #IsraelPalestineConflict pic.twitter.com/FAMp3wwJ1O
— News Bulletin (@newsbulletin05) October 12, 2023
BREAKING NEWS:🚨🚨🚨
— ALI SHAN (SATTO) (@SatoMexicanox) October 11, 2023
King of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani "Threatened to stop gas supplies to the WORLD if the bombing on Gaza did not stop"#Gaza_under_attack #FreeGaza #Hamas pic.twitter.com/hEPMKg5ow8
BREAKING NEWS:
— Adv kashif kamran khan (@kashifk48) October 12, 2023
King of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani "Threatened to stop gas supplies to the WORLD if the bombing on Gaza did not stop"#Gaza_under_attack #FreePalastine #Gaza #IsraelPalestineWar pic.twitter.com/bdmb6JmT9n
The State of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop @Qattar_Affairs
— mohsin khan محسن خان (@zer_o_zabar) October 11, 2023
The State of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop#AlAqsa_Flood #PalestineUnderAttack#Palestine #AlAqsa #Hamas #Isarael #AlAqsaUnderAttack #Hamas #IsraelPalestineWar pic.twitter.com/8f2Kg5ViMv
— Arfaat Karim 🇮🇳 (@karim_arfaat) October 12, 2023
The State of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop #طوفان_الأقصى | #فلسطين#FreeGaza #FreePalestine #Hamas #PalestinianLivesMatter #IsraelisISIS
— ABU HURAIRA 🇦🇪 (@ArainHuraira) October 11, 2023
Fact Check
We began our investigation by conducting a relevant keyword search on Google, such as “Qatar threaten to stop gas supply to the world,” and came across a report by Doha News (Archived link), in which they refuted the claim of Qatar threatening the world to stop gas supply if the bombing on Gaza did not stop.
According to the article, disinformation specialists discovered a fake Twitter account called “Qattar_Affairs” that was circulating false news about Qatar threatening to cut off its gas supplies to the globe if Israel continued to strike the Gaza Strip.
Doha News further offers information on the account’s fraudulent character, claiming that the X account in question, which masqueraded as a Qatari news agency, falsely disseminated a rumour that Qatar would suspend its gas supply to the globe if the bombardment on Gaza continued. Doha News, on the other hand, has clearly rejected the existence of any such threat from Qatar and labelled the account’s tweet as fake.
Furthermore, the Doha News discloses that disinformation specialists had already revealed this account in 2021, detailing the parallels it had with another account named “Qatar_Affairs,” which was suspended during the 2017 blockade on Qatar. Marc Owen Jones, an assistant professor of Middle East Studies at Qatar’s Hamad bin Khalifa University, told Doha News on Thursday that the account Qattar_affairs is used to try to portray Qatar negatively. It poses as a valid news account, and the majority of its material is meant to appear like a typical Qatar news account, but it will occasionally include obvious disinformation.
Besides, we discovered a thread shared by Marx Owen Jones on his X account exposing the handle Qattar_Affairs. He stated in his tweet that Qattar_Affairs’ assertion that Qatar has threatened to cut off gas supplies if the bombardment of Gaza does not cease is incorrect and false. He goes on to call Qattar_Affairs a non-credible source, writing, “Qattar_Affairs is a fake news account that has previously attempted to inflame issues pertaining to Qatar.” Qatar_Affairs was its former incarnation, which was halted. It is not a trustworthy source.”
Hence, the claim made by Qattar_Affairs and other users that the state of Qatar has threaten to stop the gas supply to the if the bombing of Gaza did not stop is false, as Qatar has made no such statement.
| Claim | Qatar has threaten to stop gas supply to the world if Israel does not stop bombing on Gaza |
| Claimed by | Qattar Affairs, Sadaf Afreen, Kashif Arsalan and other X users |
| Fact Check | False |
