Judaism is an officially recognized religion by the state of Qatar, though no data is available on the size of Qatar’s Jewish non-citizen population. While the government officially protects the three Abrahamic faiths, for example, by issuing fines for derogatory speech, it has yet to punish newspapers and other publications in Qatar that run offensive images referring to Jews or to Israel. No reports of religious discrimination, either from the government or Qatari populace, were recorded in 2011 and 2012.
In 2005, Jewish leaders attended the Third Annual Interfaith Forum for the first time, hosted by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID). In response, several Muslim leaders refused to attend, including Yusuf al-Qaradawi and former Egyptian Grand Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Tantawi, citing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish representatives have participated in all DICID conferences since 2005.
Sources:
Asharq al-Awsat, “Muslim and Jewish religious figures boycott the third Interfaith Forum in Doha,” Asharq al-Awsat, June 30, 2005, accessed November 21, 2013.
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “International Religious Freedom Report for 2012: Qatar,” U.S. Department of State (2012), accessed November 21, 2013.