The competition led to the Emiratis playing a major role in the withdrawal of ambassadors from Qatar in 2014. The Arab uprisings ushered a new chapter in the Qatari–Emirati competition. Īccording to Islam Hassan, a research analyst in Georgetown University in Qatar, "there has been always competition between al-Nahyans of Abu Dhabi and al-Thanis of Qatar. Furthermore, the UAE closed off its airspace and territorial waters to Qatari vessels. In addition to severing ties on 5 June, the UAE also expelled all Qatari nationals living in the Emirates and prohibited its citizens from travelling to Qatar. The four aforementioned countries censored all Qatari news outlets as part of severing diplomatic ties. Qatar denied that it was responsible for the messages, claiming that its news agency was hacked. This was precipitated by messages broadcast by the Qatar News Agency in May 2017 which criticized Saudi Arabia and cast Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in a positive light. On 5 June 2017, the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Two of the organization's employees were arrested by Qatari authorities in 2014 while they were investigating the living standards of foreign laborers. The organization has also taken an opposing stance towards Qatar's hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup over human rights concerns. Whitaker claimed that the organization showed favoritism in its 2014-human rights index by ranking UAE at 14 and Qatar at 97. It was claimed by journalist Brian Whitaker that the UAE used Global Network for Rights and Development, an NGO to which it has ties, as a political tool.
Qatar has also been accused of influencing news outlets to report unfavorably on the UAE. The campaign was aimed at influencing American journalists to publish critical articles of Qatar's alleged funding of Islamist groups. In September 2014, it was reported that the Emirati government invested $3 mn into a lobbying campaign against Qatar, primarily as a response to Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood. The ambassadors returned to their posts in June. The government of Qatar continued to back the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and Qatar's emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani denounced el-Sisi's election as president in June 2014 as a ‘military coup’. The main reason for the dispute was UAE's support for the political regime in Egypt led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Egypt's military elite which contrasted Qatar's support for the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood.
The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, withdrew their ambassador from Qatar in March 2014 due to alleged failure by Qatar to abide by an agreement not to interfere in the politics of these countries. UAE minister of foreign affairs Anwar Gargash responded to the documentary and stated that Paul Barril was in fact a security agent of Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani who visited Abu Dhabi and had no relationship with the UAE and the documentary was a falsification to inculpate the UAE. According to the documentary, a former French army commander Paul Barril was contracted and supplied with weapons by the UAE to carry out the coup operation in Qatar. The coup affair was revived in 2018 after the Qatar diplomatic crisis with Al Jazeera broadcasting documentaries of new details accusing UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt, of plotting to overthrow Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and reinstating his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan tried to mediate between the father and his son, and advised Khalifa bin Hamad to congratulate his son. In 1995, after Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposed his father to become emir of Qatar, UAE granted asylum to the deposed Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani in a quarters in Abu Dhabi. Main article: 1996 Qatari coup d'état attempt