On September 9, 2025, Israeli warplanes struck the Qatari capital, Doha, like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples throughout the Islamic world. As the first direct military attack by Israel on a Gulf Arab state in its history, this event shattered the long-held security illusions of Arab nations.
Five days later, an emergency Arab-Islamic summit was convened in Doha, bringing together nearly 60 national leaders and representatives to collectively condemn Israel’s attack. Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, speaking at the summit with “rare anger,” accused Israel of “arrogance and bloodlust.”
01 Historical Trajectory: The Evolution from Dispersed to Concentrated Confrontation
The relationship between Israel and the Islamic world has undergone a complex and tortuous historical evolution. In the early days of Israel’s founding, some Arab states maintained secret contacts with Israel.
After the establishment of Israel in 1948, in order to gain more international recognition, it actively sought to establish relations with regional powers like Iran.
Several Israeli leaders had even visited Tehran.
After the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, Khomeini called Israel a “cancer in the heart of the Islamic world,” completely changing the previous diplomatic tone.
The failures in the five Middle East wars made Arab countries realize that Israel could not be eliminated militarily, leading some to seek peaceful coexistence with Israel.
The signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, normalizing relations between the UAE and Israel, demonstrated a new orientation of pragmatic diplomacy among some Arab states.
02 Turning Point: The Doha Attack and the Awakening of the Islamic World
Israel’s attack on Qatar became a turning point in the regional格局. The attack occurred while a Hamas negotiation delegation was discussing a US-proposed ceasefire plan, resulting in the deaths of 5 Palestinians and 1 Qatari security force member.
Qatar, as the primary mediator in the Israel-Hamas negotiations, saw its neutral mediating role directly challenged.
The communiqué from the Arab-Islamic emergency summit clearly stated that Israel’s act of aggression was “a blatant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and a flagrant trampling of international law.”
Sun Degang, Director of the Middle East Studies Center at Fudan University, pointed out that this attack made Arab countries, particularly the Gulf states, recognize that Israel has become a “troublemaker” in the region.
Gulf states felt “backstabbed,” as many of them had spent huge sums on US weapons and allowed the deployment of US military bases, yet failed to obtain the expected security guarantees.
03 New Security Architecture: The Shift from US Dependence to Strategic Autonomy
The Doha summit marked a significant shift in the attitude of Arab-Islamic states. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced it would activate a “joint defense mechanism.”
Following the summit, GCC Secretary-General Budawi urged the US Trump administration to take action to curb Israel’s behavior, indicating that Gulf states had realized they cannot rely entirely on the US for protection.
The GCC Supreme Council tasked the Joint Military Command with taking necessary measures to “strengthen the collective defense mechanism and the deterrence capability in the Gulf region.”
Tang Zhichao, Director of the Political Studies Office at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of West Asian and African Studies, stated that this is a “policy reaction by Gulf states to the unreliability and untrustworthiness of US security protection.”
Ilham Fakhro, a research fellow with the Harvard Middle East Project, also noted that Israel’s actions “exposed the inadequacy of existing guarantees and damaged America’s credibility as a security partner.”
04 Economic Cooperation: Moving Towards Diversified Strategic Choices
While facing common security challenges, the Islamic world is also actively promoting the diversification of economic cooperation. Reducing dependence on a single energy-based economy and strengthening internal economic integration have become strategic choices for many Islamic countries.
In the fields of investment and technology, Islamic countries are beginning to focus more on internal capital flows and technology transfer, reducing dependence on Western technology.
This adjustment in economic strategy aims to enhance the autonomy and voice of Islamic countries in the global economy, laying the foundation for deeper political cooperation.
05 International Stage: Joint Statements and Coordination of Positions
In response to Israel’s actions, coordinated actions on the international stage by the Islamic world are increasing. In June 2025, foreign ministers from 21 Arab and Islamic countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE, issued a joint statement on the Israeli-Iranian conflict.
The joint statement emphasized the necessity to “respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the principle of good-neighborliness, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”
The foreign ministers also reaffirmed that “the current crisis cannot be resolved through military means,” and that the “only way to resolve regional crises is through diplomacy, dialogue, and adherence to the principle of good-neighborliness.”
At the Doha summit, countries also called on member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to review Israel’s UN membership, pointing out that Israel had “clearly violated the conditions for UN membership.”
06 Challenges and Internal Differences: Obstacles on the Path to Unity
Although the Islamic world demonstrates a united attitude in the face of common threats, there remain many internal differences and challenges. Issues of unity within the Gulf Arab states, such as the contradictions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, remain to be resolved.
Sun Degang pointed out: “Due to the fact that the entire security architecture in the Gulf region is still dominated by the United States, and the issue of unity within the Gulf Arab states remains unresolved, it will likely be a long road for Gulf states to truly achieve military strategic autonomy.”
Positions towards Israel are not entirely uniform across all countries. Some advocate for tougher confrontation measures, while others prefer more cautious diplomatic approaches.
Furthermore, the Islamic world also faces numerous internal challenges such as unbalanced economic development and differences in political systems, all of which could affect the degree of unity on the issue of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attending a Finance Ministry meeting on September 15, 2025, admitted that “Israel is in a state of isolation” and would increasingly need to adapt to being economically “self-reliant” in the future.
Following the Doha summit, Gulf countries are moving towards building strategic autonomy. As Sun Degang stated, no country in the Middle East can stand apart, and the region is likely to fall into a state where “everyone feels insecure.”
Israel, as a touchstone, tests the will and capacity for unity within the Islamic world. From military confrontation to diplomatic coordination, from security dependence to strategic autonomy, Israel’s existence prompts Islamic countries to continually transcend internal differences and seek common paths to address challenges.
This “touchstone” has made the Islamic world realize that only through unity and consensus can they safeguard their own security and interests in this challenging region.
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