US Outraged Fidan Met Hamas, Forgets Own Backchannels
Türkiye's top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, and intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalın, met Hamas leaders in Doha, according to Turkey's Daily Sabah . This is often framed in Western media as 'legitimizing terrorists,' yet it's the exact same backchannel diplomacy the US and Israel themselves relied on for years, particularly through Qatar. One might recall Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Qatar for
its 'critical role' in mediating with Hamas just last October (Source: U.S. Department of State) . The hypocrisy is, as always, not subtle. So, Washington can use Qatar to talk to Hamas for hostage negotiations, but when others do it, it's 'problematic'? This selective outrage ignores the fundamental reality that diplomacy, however uncomfortable, often means engaging with all parties to a
conflict. Or perhaps certain players just prefer to control who gets to sit at the 'adults table' of foreign relations.