US media has covered comments by high-level Qatari and Saudi officials alleging hypocrisy in the West’s response to the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Washington Post report:
March 27, 2022 Qatari and Saudi officials are pointing to what they say are unjust inconsistencies in how the West responds to humanitarian strife: acting swiftly to help Ukraine in a way that conflicts and refugees in the Middle East have not seen. At the Doha Forum on Saturday, the crowd erupted in applause when Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani noted that the “humanitarian suffering” seen in Ukraine “has been the suffering of a lot of countries in this region for years.” He said the overwhelming international response aimed at helping Ukrainians should establish a precedent and likewise be applied when the world is “witnessing the brutality” against Syrians, Palestinians, Libyans, Iraqis or Afghans. He added that he hopes it is “a wake-up call for everyone in the international community to look at our region” and address the issues “with the same level of commitment” seen in Ukraine. The Qatari official’s comments mirror a sentiment that has spread across the region in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. People in crisis-ridden countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have been angered by some media coverage painting the Ukrainian conflict as wholly different from the bloodshed experienced in their own countries. Many are also frustrated by the international community’s response, comparing it with the relatively lukewarm reaction to a number of crises over the years in their region. Rage erupted after a foreign correspondent for CBS News said Ukraine was not used to witnessing war “like Iraq or Afghanistan,” calling the country a “relatively civilized, relatively European” place.
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In a three-part series, the Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) has covered many individuals and organizations tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood who are trying to shift the narrative on the Russian invasion of Ukraine to conflicts in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.