U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken visited Qatar on Oct. 13, which is functioning as a go-between with Hamas on hostage negotiations (as they had also served with the Taliban in Afghanistan during the U.S. occupation). However, according to witnesses to a Blinken meeting with American Jewish leaders on Oct. 23, as reported by Al Jazeera, he instructed the Qatar government to “change its public posture” towards Hamas, by, among other things, arranging to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement.”