Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, said that Qatar is dissatisfied with Germany's double standards in its handling of Qatar's hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
He added - in an interview with the newspaper "Frankfurter Germany Zeitung" - that on the one hand the German people are being misled by government politicians, and on the other hand, the German government has no problem with Qatar when it comes to partnerships or investments in the energy field.
The Qatari minister described German Interior Minister Nancy Wieser's demand for security guarantees for minorities as a precondition before she agreed to attend the World Cup;
As unnecessary, he called on German politicians to focus more on hate crimes occurring within their country's borders.
He said that Qatar has been facing a systematic campaign against it for 12 years, since it was chosen to host the World Cup;
It is a campaign that no other country that has been awarded the right to host this tournament has faced.
He considered that it is ironic to play on this chord in European countries that call themselves liberal democracies, and indicated that this behavior reflects arrogance and racism.
The German Minister of the Interior visited Qatar days after her statements, and said in the wake that she had held good and interesting discussions in Doha, in which it was emphasized that the package of laws enacted by Qatar in recent years is very good, and that she obtained a very positive insight from the discussions with the German side. Qatari.
Misinformation and hypocrisy
The Qatari Foreign Minister also said - in another interview with the British "Sky News" - that the negative media coverage of the upcoming football competition is "misleading information", adding that theorizing from afar is not a solution.
He explained that the compensation fund allocated to the deceased workers in the construction of football stadiums for the World Cup is working effectively, and that about $350 million has been distributed to their families.
And the Qatari foreign minister had confirmed - in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde a few days ago - that the "reasons" offered by some for boycotting the 2022 World Cup are not based on any logic, and ignore all the achievements of his country.
He believed that there is a lot of hypocrisy in these attacks, which are promoted by a small percentage of people in about 10 countries at most, and which cannot in any way represent the rest of the planet.
He also stressed that the World Cup in Qatar will be one of the most successful and safest tournaments in history, and expressed his hope that the tournament will be a party that accommodates everyone, where everyone can discover Qatar and its culture.
FIFA supports Qatar
The International Football Association (FIFA) had previously called on the participating teams in the World Cup in Qatar to "focus on football" and stop "distributing moral lessons."
In the message published by the American website "The Athletic", FIFA called for the need to focus on the tournament, and not to drift into moral and political talk.
“We in FIFA try to respect all opinions and beliefs without giving moral lessons to the rest of the world, one of the strengths of this world is its diversity, and if integration means anything, it means respect for this diversity, as there is no better people, culture or nation than other".
"This principle is the cornerstone of mutual respect and non-discrimination, and this is also one of the fundamental values of football, so let us all remember that and focus on football," FIFA added in his letter, signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura.
Arab leaders support Qatar
At the recent Arab summit in Algeria, Arab leaders announced their support for the State of Qatar in hosting the 2022 World Cup, rejecting the "suspicious campaigns of distortion and skepticism" that Qatar was exposed to weeks before the start of the World Cup.
"We announce our support for the State of Qatar, which is preparing to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup," the summit's closing statement said.
"We affirm our full confidence in its ability to organize a distinguished edition of this global event, and we reject the malicious campaigns of distortion and skepticism that affect it," the statement added.