Condemnation for Israel’s deadly air strikes on Doha on Tuesday came swift and it came severe. In a phone call with the Emir of Qatar, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed reportedly “expressed the UAE’s condemnation of this blatant attack”. He also “stressed that the attack constitutes a violation of the sovereignty of sisterly Qatar and all international laws and norms and undermines the security and stability of the region”.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said it was a “criminal act and a flagrant violation of international law”. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called it a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”. He added: “All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, “not destroying it”. The leaders of other countries followed, including France, Lebanon, Britain, Turkey, Tunisia, Italy, Malaysia and too many others to mention.
Even US President Donald Trump was said to be furious that he only found out about the strikes from the US military, posting on Truth Social: “I immediately directed special envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack. I view Qatar as a strong ally and friend and feel very badly about the location of the attack.”
It was quite clearly an outrageous and illegal act, made all the more dangerous since the Qatari authorities had no time to try to protect their population. There will be some who will not mourn the five Hamas members who, according to the group, died in the attack. But they should know that a Qatari internal security force soldier, Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed Al-Humaidi Al-Dosari – let us honour and remember his name – was also killed, while a number of his colleagues suffered injuries.
It is extremely lucky that more were not murdered or mangled. The building that was targeted is in a residential area, punctuated with embassies and schools, with Doha’s West Bay Lagoon to the north, and Katara Cultural Village and beach to the east. I know it well, as my wife and I raised a growing family in the city in the early 2010s, and we have returned to what will always be a home-from-home for us numerous times since.
My elder son went to nursery school close to the site of the bombing. In April, we spent a family holiday nearby, at a hotel one newspaper breathlessly reports “was actually the likely nerve centre of Hamas”. (Translation: the group’s officials may have had a meeting there.)
On Tuesday, we called and messaged friends and colleagues in Doha. They were shaken, angry but, thank goodness, all safe and sound. Outsiders sometimes paint Gulf cities as conurbations of segregation and gilded skyscrapers. We know better. Of course there is great wealth, but the parks, souqs and beaches are great levellers, where the well-paid office worker may run into the security guard who looks after his building with his young children in tow, and exchange a warm hello.
You can get the finest cuisine known to humanity, but all, from the highest to the lowest, flock to the humble karak and chapati stall. In short, these are living, breathing cities, places where people of all walks of life strive and sometimes succeed, laugh and grieve, like any other. And Israel struck at the very heart of this on Tuesday. The world is right to be horrified and enraged.
A continent-size question mark now hangs over the prospect of any further ties with Israel. Hearts already cold with fury about the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s campaign in Gaza will harden further. “Israel in a week attacked: 1. Tunisia 2. Lebanon 3. Palestine 4. Yemen 5. Syria 6. Qatar. No one is safe from this terrorist state,” was the message a senior Qatari sent me on Tuesday night. Was that over the top? Well, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also described the strikes on Doha as “state terrorism” the same evening.
It is hard to say how any peace process worth the name is left after Israel tried to kill the Hamas negotiators who were considering a US ceasefire deal – to which Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his government had agreed only hours before. The bombings have been described as an attack on diplomacy itself.
“This operation is against Qatar, which is leading the mediation efforts, and against the Hamas leadership that is discussing the American proposal,” said the Palestinian former minister Mustafa Barghouti. “Is there worse shamelessness?” It demonstrated Israel’s “determination to strike all efforts made to achieve stability and security in the countries of the region”, said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Can anyone in the region trust Israel’s word or intentions ever again?
Can anyone in the region trust Israel’s word or intentions ever again?
As for Qatar, it has now suffered attacks on its soil from Iran and Israel in under three months. But if anyone thought that might cause the state to diverge from its mission to promote mediation, as it has done for more than 20 years, not just in the Middle East but in the Horn and North of Africa, and from Chad to Tajikistan, Qatar’s Prime Minister set them right on Tuesday.
“Mediation in Qatari diplomacy is part of its identity,” he told reporters. “It will continue, and nothing will deter us from persisting in this role” for the sake of the stability of the region and its peoples, he said. In terms of Qatar’s role vis-a-vis Israel and Gaza, he said – unsurprisingly – “For current talks, I do not think there’s something valid right now after what we saw from today’s attack.”
For the broader role, I spoke to my friend and colleague Salman Shaikh, founder and chief executive of The Shaikh Group, a peacebuilding and mediation organisation that is supported by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other European countries. “Qatar will double down and won’t be dissuaded in any way by the attack,” he told me while on a plane to Doha. “Mediation of different conflicts with the respect of the parties involved is a core part of their foreign policy, it is written into their constitution, and the rest of the world values it more and more.”
The question now, Mr Shaikh said, is what more the Gulf collectively and like-minded countries and traditional mediation actors like the UK and EU can do to come together to redouble their efforts and support Qatar – both in reacting to the Israeli attack, and in its ongoing and future mediation work.
Turning to the bigger picture, and to the external actor with the biggest influence on the region, not just Mr Trump but all Americans need to consider a choice. Given the incredible restraint Qatar has shown, the immediate solidarity the GCC has demonstrated, and the reckless and deathly impunity with which Israel has been acting, which is the US’s true friend and ally in the Middle East? Is it Israel? Or is it the “Gulf 3” or G3, as the Emirati political scientist Dr Abdulkhaleq Abdulla recently referred to Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia in these pages?
So long as the government of Mr Netanyahu is in office, I would say that there could only be one answer.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Results
Stage three:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-43
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
5. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
6. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) UAE-Team Emirates, at 24s
General Classification:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-13-02
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin Fenix, at 12s
4. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
All or Nothing
Amazon Prime
Four stars
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
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ABU DHABI CARD
5pm: UAE Martyrs Cup (TB) Conditions; Dh90,000; 2,200m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap; Dh70,000; 1,400m
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6.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Apprentice Championship (PA) Prestige; Dh100,000; 1,600m
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8pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (PA) Group 1; Dh5,000,000; 1,600m
India Test squad
Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
SPECS
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