UAE ambassador in Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba said what is true is Qatar’s behavior

:: The UAE Embassy in Washington has released a statement calling a Washington Post report related to Qatar as “false.”

The report had claimed that the UAE orchestrated a hacking operation against a Qatari government website in May. The report also claimed that UAE’s purpose was to use it as “a pretext” for the crisis between Qatar and several Arab countries.

However, UAE ambassador in Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, responded in a tweet that the UAE had no role whatsoever in this matter. The report did not quote named sources or officials.

He said that “what is true is Qatar’s behavior. Funding, supporting, and enabling extremists from the Taliban to Hamas & Qadafi”.

He added that Qatar is inciting violence, encouraging radicalization, and undermining the stability of its neighbors”.

On May 24, a story appeared on the Qatari News Agency’s website quoting a speech by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in which he praised Iran and said Qatar has good relations with Israel. Similarly, the statements appeared on the news agency’s Twitter feed.

The website hack

Qatari television channel also aired Tamim’s remarks during the news bulletin, hours before saying that the website was hacked.

The Qatari agency published Tamim’s statements on its Instagram account in Arabic, which connected to the Facebook account, on its Instagram account in English, befote it deactivated the entire account, and on its Google Plus account.

Here is evidence that the QNA website was not hacked:

First: The Qatari television channel has aired Tamim’s remarks during the news bulletin, hours before saying that the website was hacked.

Second: The Qatari agency published Tamim’s statements on its Instagram account in Arabic. It is worth mentioning that the Instagram account that is connected to the Facebook account with security information, is very difficult to hack.

Third: The Qatari agency published Tamim’s statements on its Instagram account in English. However, the English account of the Qatari agency on Instagram published the news and then deactivated the entire account.

Fourth: The QNA published Tamim’s statements on the Google Plus account that is very difficult to hack; Google has always praised the high security measures for its accounts.