Qatar is conducting a multi-pronged, global influence campaign to expand its regional and international clout.

Recently, it was reported that Israeli security officials are investigating the possibility that Qatari elements are behind a wave of online posts in recent weeks designed to cast doubt on the stability of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. These posts, widely circulated in Israeli media, focused on Egypt’s military buildup and increased troop deployment in Sinai — a move that could be seen as violating the peace treaty.

However, a civil society group called “Fake Reporter,” which tracks malicious online activity, found a sharp rise in content on social media portraying Egypt as an increasing threat to Israel. Some of the videos and images used to support these claims were actually from an Egyptian military drill held in 2018.

While it’s true that Egypt has been enhancing its military capabilities, it seems there’s a deliberate attempt to frame this as a threat to Israel. The suspicion is that this disinformation campaign may be aimed at weakening Egypt’s role as a mediator, particularly with the U.S., in Middle Eastern affairs — and especially in Gaza-related matters.

If Qatar is indeed behind this disinformation, it would be yet another link in its vast influence network — one that’s drawn increasing attention lately, both due to the potential collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and Qatar’s involvement in mediation efforts around hostage negotiations. In the Israeli context, reports have surfaced about Qatar hiring Israeli PR experts — including advisors to Netanyahu — to improve its image in global public opinion and in the Jewish world.

This isn’t a new tactic for the small Gulf emirate. While research on influence campaigns over the past decade has focused mostly on Russia, China, and Iran, Qatar has largely flown under the radar — unjustly so. A series of investigations by Reuters since 2019 exposed “Project Raven,” a secret UAE-led operation that hired former NSA agents to spy on targets in Turkey, France, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, and Israel.

Leaked information from that project revealed the extent of Qatar’s global influence operations — supporting both terrorist groups and friendly regimes in the West, while also working to destabilize governments across the Arab world.

For example, Qatar played a role in toppling Gaddafi’s regime in Libya and was the first to recognize the rebel government. It also supported Tunisia’s post-revolution regime after the fall of Ben Ali, and has actively backed Syrian rebels with weapons and funding. Traditionally, Qatar has pursued a proactive agenda in the Arab world and has recently intensified efforts to position itself as a leader of the Sunni world. To that end, it engages in various influence channels:

Influence Among Decision Makers

Qatar commonly uses financial incentives to sway influencers and policymakers. Beyond the bribery scandals uncovered in Project Raven, French authorities recently indicted Nasser Al-Khelaifi — a senior official in Qatar’s Investment Authority and president of Paris Saint-Germain football club — for allegedly using bribes to manipulate business decisions.

Similarly, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was accused of accepting bribes from both Qatar and Egypt to advance their interests. Qatar also funds trips for politicians and journalists to Doha — a form of soft power. In 2018, federal investigations began in the U.S. into whether lobbyists and former government officials working for Qatar had violated lobbying laws. That year, 250 people close to President Trump were flown to Doha at Qatar’s expense. Likewise, Rep. Ilhan Omar was flown to Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer admitted to a similar Qatar-sponsored trip when he was still a member of Parliament.

Just last week, the European Network of Aviation Associations (ENAA) warned the EU’s transport department about a possible aviation deal with Qatar, raising corruption concerns.

Financial Influence

Qatar’s wealth oils the wheels of influence in the U.S. Congress — with reports in 2018 showing that 59 members received donations from Qatar. Think tanks in Washington also benefit, making Qatar a major funder of those who whisper in the ears of decision-makers. In 2022, it was revealed that Gen. John Allen, then-president of the Brookings Institution, was under investigation for secretly lobbying for Qatar after retiring from the military — earning over $1 million in fees. He worked alongside Richard Olson, former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and the UAE, who admitted to participating in the lobbying campaign.

“Qatargate” Scandal in Europe

The Qatargate scandal in the European Parliament revealed that, starting in 2019, Qatar paid Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri and Greek EU Vice President Eva Kaili in exchange for favorable votes. This led to greater scrutiny in Europe over parliamentarians’ trips to Qatar and prompted ethics committees to enhance oversight and limit Qatari influence.

Western Assets and Public Opinion

Qatar also secures influence through investments. It holds major stakes in European corporations like Porsche. Its massive investment in building the U.S. air base at Al-Udeid made it the largest American military base in the Middle East. Qatar also targets American public opinion — in spring 2020, it donated millions in COVID-19 aid to families in Los Angeles, Charleston (South Carolina), and other U.S. cities.

Influence Through Sports

Qatar places immense importance on sports as a tool for influence. Hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup was the result of a massive lobbying effort — including hiring Israeli PR experts. The campaign continues, with recent reports of Qatari investors aiming to buy the English football club Tottenham and launching their bid to host the 2027 Basketball World Cup. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Qatari leaders, including the Emir, were prominent guests at the opening ceremony, and Al-Khelaifi even carried the Olympic torch.

Diplomatic Influence

Qatar invests heavily in its image as a regional mediator. Both the Biden and Trump administrations praised its efforts in negotiating the release of American hostages from the Taliban. Doha values this role so highly that its diplomats frequently emphasize Qatar’s neutrality. For instance, the Qatari ambassador to the U.S. wrote op-eds in The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek framing Qatar as an honest broker. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson has echoed this narrative in numerous interviews, including with Israeli outlets like Haaretz and Channel 12. Journalists from The Jerusalem Post and Kan 11 have even been invited to Doha.

Influence in Education

A 2022 study by the U.S. National Association of Scholars revealed that between 2001 and 2021, Qatar donated $4.7 billion to American universities — including Cornell, Georgetown, and Carnegie Mellon — in return for opening Doha branches. Sometimes, this came with conditions, like removing certain course content or cooperating with Qatari media like Al Jazeera. Texas A&M alone received $404 million between 2015 and 2023. (The university has announced plans to shut its Doha campus by 2027 — a move publicly criticized by the U.S. ambassador to Qatar.)

Qatar has become the largest foreign donor to U.S. universities, often without proper disclosure, and a 2020 ISGAP study found a correlation between Qatari funding and pro-Palestinian activism on American campuses.

Supporting Terror-Linked Groups Under a Humanitarian Disguise

Qatar often masks its support for terror-linked entities as humanitarian aid. To retain influence in Gaza, Qatar insisted on delivering aid during the early 2025 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, including fuel and bulldozers. It pledged $100 million to UNRWA, with $4.5 million earmarked for operations in the West Bank. Qatar also funneled money to Hezbollah through “charities” that provide food, medicine, and education — and used similar “humanitarian” ventures to build ties with the Houthis in Yemen and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Media Influence

Qatar’s media arm, Al Jazeera, plays a major role in shaping public opinion. It’s the most popular English-language news network in the world after CNN and BBC — and has been accused of acting as a mouthpiece for Hamas and other Islamist groups. Since its founding in 1996, Al Jazeera has provided a platform for Muslim Brotherhood leaders and broadcast divisive content about the Arab world.

Its various branches, including AJ+ in the U.S., continue to influence global narratives. In Gaza, several Al Jazeera journalists were recently found to be affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the channel actively promoted staged events involving Israeli hostages.

Conclusion

Qatar is conducting a multi-pronged, global influence campaign to expand its regional and international clout. Through its vast network of soft power — in diplomacy, media, education, finance, and humanitarian aid — Qatar has become a key player in global affairs. Israel’s current dependence on Qatari mediation regarding hostages forces it to tolerate, and even flatter, one of Hamas’s primary funders — without whom the October 7th attack may not have happened. Qatar is now also helping Hamas recover.

This case illustrates the sophistication of Qatar’s influence strategy — and the urgent need to monitor and defend against it.

Translated in English from Jerusalem Institute of Strategic Studies.

Cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was unable to get to safety or medical treatment after being injured in the strike on the Farhana School in Khan Younis and died of his wounds before ambulances were allowed in the area, Al Jazeera said.

Al Jazeera said Israeli drones fired missiles at the school. Reuters could not verify the details of the incident.

Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment.

“Following Samer’s injury, he was left to bleed to death for over five hours, as Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him, denying the much-needed emergency treatment,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

The journalists were reporting from the city in southern Gaza, which has been at the centre of Israel’s ground offensive in recent days.

Three Gazan rescue workers were also killed in a strike on the school, said the Civil Defense department, part of the Hamas-controlled interior ministry. Reuters could not immediately establish the sequence of events.

Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh was injured in his hand in the attack but managed to reach a nearby hospital for treatment for his injuries, Al Jazeera said.

Dahdouh, a Gaza correspondent, is particularly well known to viewers across the Middle East after learning last month during an emotional live broadcast that his wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in what the network said was an Israeli air strike.

The two months of war in Gaza have taken a heavy toll on journalists, with at least 64 reporters and media workers killed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday.

The CPJ called on international authorities to “conduct an independent investigation into the attack to hold the perpetrators to account.”

Asked about the killing of Samer Abu Daqqa, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters: “We still have no indications that the Israelis are deliberately going after journalists covering this war.”

The targeting came after threats to al-Sharif since November, the Qatari-based network said.

“We call on the international community to take urgent measures to stop the occupation army’s massacres of journalists and civilians in Gaza,” it said.

“The horrific event unfolded today at Jabalia Camp, where Moamen’s family sought refuge, leading to the killing of his father, mother, three siblings and his children,” the network said in a statement.

The journalist, who was elsewhere during the bombardment, later appeared live on Al Jazeera. The victims included 17 other members of his extended family.

The network said it “will pursue all legal steps to holding accountable all those responsible for this crime.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Jabalia is in the northern Gaza Strip.

On Oct. 25, an Israeli raid killed several family members of Wael Dahdouh, another Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza.

As the battle inside the tiny Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory intensified, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed international calls for a halt to the fighting.

But U.N. and other aid officials warned that a public health catastrophe was engulfing civilians in Gaza, with hospitals struggling to cope with mounting casualties and food, medicine, drinking water and fuel running short.

The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital told Al Jazeera that more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli air strikes on a densely populated area of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The tunnels under the cramped enclave are a prime objective for Israel as it expands a four-day-old ground offensive – after three weeks of aerial bombardment – into Gaza from the north to hit Hamas in retaliation for the Islamist group’s deadly surprise attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Some of the 240 hostages that Israel says were seized by Hamas that day are believed to be held in the tunnel complex, adding a further complication for the Israelis on top of the difficulties of fighting in an urban setting.

“Over the last day, combined IDF (Israel Defence Forces) struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” an Israeli military statement said.

Militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, it said. A number of militants were killed, it said, without specifying a number.

Hamas said in a statement its fighters were engaging in fierce battles with Israeli ground forces, who were taking losses. “The occupation is pushing its soldiers into proud Gaza, which will always be the cemetery of invaders,” Hamas said.

Israeli forces also bombed the narrow coastal enclave overnight in air, sea and ground attacks, hitting northwestern areas, witnesses said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Israeli forces targeted Gaza’s main north-south road and attacked Gaza City, its northern hub, from two directions.

Gaza health authorities say that 8,525 people, including 3,542 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7. U.N. officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.

About 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the cross-border Hamas assault on Oct. 7, Israel says.

Reuters has been unable to independently verify casualty counts.

Ground Fighting Spreads To South Gaza

The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said militants also clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces invading Gaza’s south, hitting four Israeli vehicles with missiles.

Militants also fired at two Israeli tanks as well as bulldozers in northwest Gaza, al-Qassam said. In Beit Hanoun, in the northeast, they “liquidated” an Israeli unit which was ambushed as it entered a building.

Reuters was unable to confirm the details of battle reports. Israel’s military had no immediate comment on the Hamas accounts.

Air raid sirens sounded in the area of Israel’s far southern resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea on Tuesday and the Israeli military said it downed an approaching “aerial target”.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they had launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel, their third operation targeting Israel, with more to come.

The mounting death toll in Gaza has drawn calls from the United States, Israel’s main ally, other countries and the U.N. for a pause in fighting to allow in more humanitarian aid.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington, stressed the importance of both security assistance for Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.

“Without swift and sustained humanitarian relief, the conflict is much more likely to spread, suffering will grow, and Hamas and its sponsors will benefit by fashioning themselves as the saviours of the very desperation they created,” he said.

Israel has sealed off Gaza and refuses to allow in fuel supplies lest, it says, they be used by Hamas to wage war.

Netanyahu said on Monday Israel would not agree to a ceasefire and would pursue its plans to annihilate Hamas.

A World Health Organization official in Geneva said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza.

Children Beneath The Rubble

Air strikes on Monday night outside the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza caused a power cut and doctors said they feared for the lives of 250 injured Palestinians being treated there as fuel runs low.

“Running out of fuel would mean no power and no power would mean the inevitable death of many patients,” Dr. Moaeen Al-Masri said.

James Elder, a spokesperson for the U.N. children’s agency in Geneva, warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration. Children in Gaza were getting sick from drinking salty water, he said.

About 940 children are reported missing in Gaza, he said, with some thought to be stuck beneath the rubble of buildings flattened by Israeli air strikes.

Significantly fewer humanitarian aid trucks than needed have reached the besieged enclave, U.N. officials said. Aid trucks have been trickling into Gaza from Egypt over the past week via Rafah, the main crossing that does not border Israel.

The proposal to shut down Al Jazeera had been vetted by Israeli security officials and was being vetted by legal experts, Shloma Karhi said, adding that he would bring it to the cabinet later in the day.

Al Jazeera and the government in Doha had no immediate comment.

“This is a station that incites, this is a station that films troops in assembly areas (outside Gaza) … that incites against the citizens of Israel – a propaganda mouthpiece,” Karhi told Israel’s Army Radio.

“It is unconscionable that Hamas spokespeople’s message goes through this station,” he said, adding: “I hope we will finish with this today.” It was not clear if the latter statement referred to a cabinet discussion or implementation of a closure.

One of the most recognizable journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for two decades, Abu Akleh was killed in May 2022 during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. Her death triggered outrage across the region.

Israel says Abu Akleh, who was wearing a clearly marked protective press vest and helmet, was likely unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but could also have been struck by Palestinian fire. Abu Akleh’s family believes she was killed deliberately, and witnesses to the incident have said there were no Palestinian fighters firing in the area she was standing.

The U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified. In a statement, Van Hollen, a Democrat on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said the report contains important insights into her death.

That includes “relevant information and findings about the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (Israeli military) unit involved in that operation – as well as other IDF units operating in the West Bank,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen said that while the USSC team was “unable to conduct an independent investigation” due to lack of access to key witnesses, the report’s public release was still vital to ensuring accountability in the shooting death of a U.S. citizen.

The U.S. State Department, which oversees the USSC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In December, Al Jazeera made a submission to the International Criminal Court over Abu Akleh’s killing. Her family has supported such efforts while urging action by the Biden administration.

Israel insists that its soldiers do not deliberately target journalists and has refused to identify the soldier who may have shot Abu Akleh.

Qatar’s Al-Jazeera published a report that alleged that the attacker of a religious Shiite site in Shiraz Iran was a Bahraini national.

In a serious-toned tweet thread, Ministry said, “MOI asserts that the defaming and inciting campaigns against Bahrain and its citizens through the Qatari Al Jazeera Channel come within a systematic framework that lacks professionalism and media credibility. MOI highlights the following:”.

“First: The report posted on Al Jazeera Channel website that the attacker of a religious site in Shiraz in Iran is a Bahraini national is baseless”, it added. “Second: The media’s credibility and professionalism go against the years-long approach of the channel against the Kingdom of Bahrain. Therefore, the information should be denied immediately, considering that the Iranian local authorities have denied the report”.

In its third tweet, the Ministry demanded Al-Jazeera to publish the response in order to correct its report “out of the principle of the right of reply and the clarification of the facts”.

Al Jazeera, which continues to receive political and financial support from the government of Qatar, was established in 1996 as part of Qatari ambitions to transform economic power into political influence in the Arab world and beyond.

As a result, Al Jazeera has come under fire for being Qatar’s official media outlet. 2010 diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed internal discussions from the U.S. State Department that claimed Qatar’s government slants Al Jazeera coverage to serve its political objectives.

According to the Political Scientist Walid Phares, Al Jazeera allegedly developed into the Muslim Brotherhood’s “main ideological and communication network”, during the 2011 Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.

Phares stated that Al Jazeera had a “tremendous role” in assisting Islamist components of the revolution after democratic forces had started the uprisings.

Surprisingly, within minutes. I found terrifying armies of fake accounts affiliated with Qatar. Yes Qatar.

First of all, thanks to all my great friends who supported me during the suspension of my account after I posted the below tweet:

I was expecting Twitter to take an action against these fake accounts. Instead, the action was taken against me and my account got suspended right after that tweet! Then, I decided to make sure that I was not mistaken as a bot with real humans, and thanks for my account suspension. I got excited to read more and do some researches about these fake accounts or commonly called bots and if they are really prohibited by Twitter.

Then I found something like, “As per Twitter, their power to identify and remove these behaviors are more sophisticated than ever”. So I decided to see how sophisticated they are.

While I was searching about bots, I was surprised that the country that complains most about bots is Qatar and the country most accused of spreading bots is my homeland, Saudi Arabia. Surprising isn’t it?

I can’t completely deny that accusation, but I am active on Twitter, and I do not remember that we never came across these armies of the fake Saudi accounts they are talking about. I haven’t found a single hashtag in which I noticeably saw fake Saudi accounts backing it up!

So where are these fake accounts that Qatar main media arms @AJEnglish and @AJArabic have always reported about, that these fake Saudi accounts ‘ruined’ Twitter in the Middle East! Either they are so good in hiding or simply they don’t not exist.

After days of searching for these Saudi armies of bots, I gave up and decided to dig more and search in general for the bots from anywhere regardless of their origin.

Surprisingly, within minutes. I found terrifying armies of fake accounts affiliated with Qatar. Yes Qatar.

I was surprised to find exact photo and exact words, with exact Hashtags. Coincidently, on the exact day and the exact hour with “funny” names.

I could not believe my eyes. Qatari media’s continuous accusation against Saudi Arabia about the Twitter bots that’s targeting Qatar, Turkey and Iran was just a cover-up for their day-to-day bots operations which is primarily targeting Saudi Arabia.

They are not just targeting Saudi Arabia, but also implementing Qatar’s political agenda by glorifying the Qatari regime and Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and even supporting news posts from Al-Jazeera English and Arabic.

These Qatari bots are in thousands and thousands. And to realize the unbelievable magnitude of their operations and numbers, see the below clip with fast scrolling.

I believe it is not a hard job for Twitter Safety team to identify these Qatari bots. In fact, you can try it yourself and visit the hashtag: #QatarTurkey, and you will find the Aj Jazeera English news posted the exact hashtag with exact words, photo and on the same day. In fact, it is just a mere copy-paste bots process.

They all joined in 2020, in the year where Twitter’s power to identify them is more sophisticated. They all have fake funny profiles with 0 or 1 follower.

All these forged accounts are affiliated with Qatar, and they support Qatar’s media channels such as Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as their broadcasters, Qatari politicians, athletes and media professionals, in addition to the fake accounts that oppose Saudi Arabia.

Gaith Al-Tamimi is a Saudi-based Engineer, Geophysicist, Explorer and Travel Expert. He tweets under @GaiTamimi1.

Qatari Government and Qatar Foundation is using university grants to fund radical ideologies…

The Qatari project with American Universities to nurture and educate their own journos in America gave us Qatari loyalists. From AJ+ to Karen Attiah and others who I will be covering alongside Sharon Collins throughout this article and a series of videos on Sharon’s account.

Qatar Foundation’s Grants and Funding to the North West University is done in ways to avoid registering the North West University as a foreign agent in the service of the State of Qatar. I hope senator Ted Cruz and governor Governor Greg Abbott can shed some light on why this is happening.

The NU-Q (North West University of Qatar), but Qatar has been funding the North West University since 2004, almost 16 years of foreign funding that went unnoticed.

Qatari activities in the United States wasn’t limited to North West University, in fact Qatar Foundation (QF), spent at least $1.5 billion since 2012 to fund a range of educational initiatives at 28 universities across America, making the state of Qatar one of the education system’s most prolific foreign funders, according to information obtained by the Lawfare Project, a U.S.-based legal group that has been petitioning universities to disclose information about their financial relationship with Qatar.

Georgetown has received more than $415 in foreign funding since 2012 and Texas A&M has received $285 million since 2014 hope Mayor Mureil Bowser Georgetown University can explain how a tremendous amount of foreign money is going unmonitored.

All U.S. colleges and universities are required by law to report all foreign sources of funding of $250,000 or more, if Georgetown and Texas A&M did not fully disclose these foreign sources of funding, they should face legal action and financial penalties, yet they didn’t.

Texas A&M university gets $76 million each year to operate in Qatar.

Qatari Government and Qatar Foundation is using university grants to fund radical ideologies, pro Islamist, socialism, antisemitism and anti capitalism on campuses since 2004.

Judicial Watch and the Zachor Legal Institute are battling in court for the truth about how Qatar got Texas A&M into setting up a campus in a country run by a government known for its promotion and funding of terrorism, partnership with extremist groups.

For years, the government of Qatar has been financing an extensive influence operation in America. By funding think tanks, activist organizations, mosques and now American universities and education programs. The influence operation has engaged in political activities that benefit Qatar while inculcating virulent antisemitism, Pro Islamist that continues to spread in American society.

Qatar is the top supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups like Hamas and al-Qaeda affiliates, among others. Al-Jazeera, one of the most influential Islamist extremist propaganda outlets in the world, is influencing American Universities.

Since 2012, Qatar has paid approximately $1.5 billion to 28 universities in the form of monetary “gifts and contracts” and we are supposed to believe that? This support comes through the Qatar National Research Fund and its parent organization, the Qatar Foundation QF.

QF was founded in 1995 by Hamad Bin Khalifa, Emir of Qatar, and chaired by Mozah al-Missned, is registered with the U.S. government as a foreign principal since at least 2006, in accordance with FARA.

The registration indicates that it is supervised, directed, controlled, financed and subsidized by a foreign government, foreign political party, or other foreign principal, namely Qatar.

Apart from the support given to universities in the United States, QF spends approximately $405 million a year to cover the expenses for six American universities that have opened campuses in Qatar. Northwestern, Texas A&M, Georgetown, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell and Carnegie Mellon.

Saudi Ministry of Education, UAE Ministry of Education should stop sending students to these universities FFS.

In addition to its spending on universities, Qatar funds training programs for American students in schools across the United States. Qatar Foundation International (“QFI”), the U.S.- based subsidiary of QF, has spent more than $30 million funding programs in public schools.

QFI was formed for the purpose of advancing the vision of Qatar, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood. Schools that accept money from QFI are required to give over a degree of access and control to the Qatari organization, seriously let that sinks in.

QFI and QF are inextricably linked, not just to each other, but also to the Qatari government. QFI’s Executive Director and ghost writer for Khashoggi Maggie Mitchell Salem, stated in 2018 “QF’s CEO Hind Al-Thani and her mom, QF Chairperson Moza are my bosses”.

Additionally, QFI has received significant funding from QF. According to QFI’s submissions to the IRS, it received over $10 million from QF between 2010 and 2012. Notably, when reporting QFI’s transfer of cash assets, these forms refer to QF as “a related party”.

Surprisingly Jamal Khashoggi’s Editor Karen Attiah was a Student at North West University at the hight of Qatari funding of the college and in sync with the Qatari government agendas of bashing enemies of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In June 2019, Duke University held an immersion program for teachers of grades 6-12 titled “Dimensions of the Middle East”, more like Muslim Brotherhood’s version of the Middle East.

This teacher training program aimed to train 40 teachers hand-selected by QFI, which provided more than $111,000 in funding. Teachers applied for this program by registering for an account on Qatar Foundation International’s Grants Management Portal, FluidReview.

The teachers invited to participate in the program were ostensibly selected by QFI, rather than Duke making QFI control the Selection process.

Candidates (selected by Qatar) for this program teachers from school districts ranging in location from North Carolina, Illinois and Virginia – first had to commit to QFI that they will create and submit a Middle East curriculum based on the content provided.

In fact, the curriculum appears to minimize and downplay, if not outright ignore, the history and contributions of non-Muslim people in the Middle East while exaggerating the role and influence of the Ottoman Empire.

Notably, some of the “specialists” chosen by Duke (actually by Qatar) to present the program were also involved in a controversial March 2019 conference, “Conflict Over Gaza People, Politics and Possibilities” which is being investigated by the Department of Education for anti-Israel bias and for featuring anti-Semitic songs.

The Education Department launched an investigation into how $235,000 in federal grants were used to fund a series of anti-Israel events.

Organized by Duke University and UNC that featured speakers and events tied to Palestinian terrorist groups, and several of the events held during the conference were organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”), a group that has a history of distributing anti-Semitic propaganda on many American college campuses, and thereby fostering unsafe environments for Jewish students. Additionally, several speakers at the conference were videotaped discussing how they held meetings with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (“PFLP”), which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Secretary of State in 1997.

As noted above, at all relevant times, Duke received funding from Qatar.

On December 3, 2019, Duke entered into a Resolution Agreement with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to “resolve a complaint alleging that Duke discriminated on the basis of national origin (“shared ancestry, Jewish”) in connection with the anti-Israel events, Supra. Pursuant to the Resolution Agreement, Duke agreed to issue a statement that it does not tolerate anti-Semitic harassment or discrimination, and would provide a description of the forms of anti-Semitism that can manifest in the University environment.

Duke also agreed to host a meeting to discuss harassment or discrimination (not limited to anti-Semitic harassment), and to include a component on discrimination (not limited to anti-Semitic harassment) in its training modules and orientation sessions through 2021 – for two years.

Notably, the Resolution Agreement neither identifies the underlying anti-Semitic events and conduct that gave rise to the complaint against Duke, nor addresses in any way the influence of foreign funding on the discrimination and harassment experienced on campus. Providing a “description” of anti-Semitism is a far cry from taking concrete action to prevent it.

The Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies the “Consortium” or “CMES” is a collaboration between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”) and Duke University.

It encourages collaboration and cooperation in all aspects of Middle Eastern studies across their two campuses and across disciplines. According to the Consortium’s website, this is clearly Qataris rewriting history of the Middle East to serve the Muslim Brotherhood’s agendas.

On August 29, 2019, the Department of Education expressed concerns regarding UNC’s use of Title VI funds vis-à-vis the Consortium’s activities, including its activities for elementary and secondary school students and teachers.

In a letter to Dr. Terry Magnuson, UNC’s Vice Chancellor for Research, Assistant Secretary Robert King wrote: “The Duke-UNC CMES appears to lack balance as it offers very few, if any, programs focused on the historic discrimination faced by, and current circumstances of religious minorities in the Middle East, including Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Yadizis, Kurds, Druze, and others. Also, in your activities for elementary and secondary students and teachers, there is a considerable emphasis placed on the understanding the positive aspects of Islam (more like Islamist ideology, while there is an absolute absence of any similar focus on the positive aspects of Christianity, Judaism, or any other religion or belief system in the Middle East”.

This lack of balance of perspectives is troubling and strongly suggests that Duke-UNC CMES is not meeting legal requirement that National Resource Centers, in fact I can see that Qataris are reshaping opinions of future generations in favor of the Islamist ideology.

Qatar is building an army of journalists and politicians with no true understanding of the political structure and conflicts history of the region, the history and ideological risks that comes from embracing the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots.

In 2008, Northwestern University established a campus in Qatar. Funded by the Qatar Foundation and overseen by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University in Qatar (“NU-Q”) focuses on journalism and communications.

The Medill School of Journalism advertises NU-Q as their “onsite presence in the Middle East” and offers American students opportunities to experience semester or journalism residency programs in Qatar, or pursue their entire degree there.

In 2013, NU-Q and Al-Jazeera Network signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to “facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer between two of Qatar’s foremost media organizations.”

According to the press release announcing the MOU: The agreement, which deepens ties between the two organizations that have worked together since NU-Q’s inception, will allow professionals and budding journalists from both sides to benefit from the combined expertise of the two institutions through joint research and strategic studies projects, training workshops, a co-designed lecture series, internships and faculty contributions as well as journalist-exchange programs.

In addition, NU-Q will conduct consultations with Al Jazeera leadership based on its faculty research interests and expertise in the American media industry, as the news network moves forward with its planning for Al Jazeera America but ended up with AJ+.

A recent example of the so-called scholarship coming from NU-Q is a tweet from one of the university’s journalism professors, Justin Martin, which used the anniversary of 9/11 to downplay the horrific nature of that terrorist attack.

Martin has a long history of expressing support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (“BDS”) Movement against Israel, and has written about how Al-Jazeera can make itself appear more credible to American audiences.

Unsurprisingly, he has been rewarded with two grants from QF’s National Priorities Research Program, totaling over $1.3 million.

In connection with preparing this memorandum, The Lawfare Project contacted Canary Mission, an organization that documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on college campuses.

Canary Mission is in the process of, inter alia, tracing the anti-Semitic effects of NU-Q’s programs by identifying the publicly available content its students and graduates have put forth in various media, including Al Jazeera, AJ+, TRT, the BBC and other MB platforms.

Qatar had its claws in the American education system for almost 18 years, I urge countries to pull their scholarship students from those States and Universities until they can prove that they are not influenced by Qatar and Islamist extremist groups.

I call on people from those states to push for transparency on the subject and end the Qatari influence of the education system and their own children. Now you know what are you going to do?

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He often writes about Islamism, Islamist factions and modern Terrorism. He tweets under @0khalodi0.