FAKE: No, Qatar didn't threaten to cut gas supplies over Gaza bombing

An unverified claim went viral on social media on 11 October suggesting that Qatar's Emir Tamim Al-Thani had threatened to create a global gas shortage if Israel's bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip continued.

Qatar, one of the world’s largest suppliers of natural gas, had recently signed multiple deals with EU countries to supply liquified natural gas (LNG) following shortages caused by sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The original claim shared widely on X (formerly Twitter) came from a now-suspended account which posted in Arabic: "Qatar threatened to stop world supplies of gas if the bombing on Gaza did not stop."

Marc Owen Jones, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said the claim originated from an account known for peddling "disinformation".

It was accompanied by a clip of what appeared to be a live broadcast from Al-Jazeera, showing the emir speaking in Arabic from a podium with mistranslations of what was being said.

The seven-second clip dates back to May 2017 from the 17th Doha Forum, where the Emir said: "The Palestinian cause is the cause of a people uprooted from their land and displaced from their homeland."

The original tweet is from @qattar_affairs and is false. Qattar_Affairs is a fake news account that has previously attempt to enflame issues pertaining to Qatar. It's previous incarnation was Qatar_Affairs - and this was suspended. It is not a credible source. pic.twitter.com/vritTTs2GY

— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) October 12, 2023

Many accounts who shared the false claims have since deleted the tweet, including some "blue-checked" verified profiles with thousands of followers.

The original account that shared the claim in Arabic has also been suspended.

🔥🚨BREAKING: Qatar is threatening to create a global gas shortage in support of Palestine. "If the bombing of Gaza doesn't stop, we will stop gas supply of the world." pic.twitter.com/MOR8M9xE3d

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) October 13, 2023

The fake news coincided with an announcement that Qatar has inked a 27-year deal with France’s TotalEnergies for the supply of gas through its North Field gas project.

Qatar is also involved in the negotiation for the release of Israeli hostages from Gaza, according to its foreign ministry.

In 2017, the Qatar News Agency account was hacked with a fake story about the Qatar emir supporting extremists and Iran, immediately denied by Doha, leading to a blockade on the Gulf state by several Arab countries.