The enigmatic Gulf emirate of Qatar, which is obscenely wealthy due to its fortuitous location above the world&#8217;s largest natural gas field, has a longstanding problem with Sunni jihadism. The wealthy petrochemical sheikh minority of the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/03/qatar-travel-ban-billionaires-slaves-trapped-middle-east/">majority slave state</a> Qatari populace is, along with Recep Tayyip Erdogan&#8217;s Turkey, disproportionately responsible for funding and exporting more radical Sunni Islamism than any other cloistered clerisy the world over. The Qatari ruling class <a href="https://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">proudly hosts</a> Islamist cleric Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">Muslim Brotherhood</a>&#8216;s de facto global caliph, and has long been the preeminent state <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-hamas-officials-expect-30-million-transfer-from-qatar-within-several-days-1.7222696">bankroller</a> of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Pro-terror network <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">Al Jazeera</a> also serves as a state-run Qatari propaganda outfit, and it is the evil bile spewing from Al Jazeera&#8217;s airwaves that led more moderate Sunni Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to boycott and embargo Qatar in 2017. Counter-jihadist activist David Reaboi <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/17/qatar-a-hospitable-base-for-the-muslim-130932598/">put it well</a> at The Washington Times in February:
<blockquote>Al Jazeera is the world’s most successful, sophisticated and influential state-directed information operation.
It is remarkably aggressive in service of Qatar’s foreign policy interests, which include four key elements: (1) undermining the stability of its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; (2) promoting Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood in vulnerable, Western open societies; (3) financially and diplomatically supporting violent terrorist groups like Hamas, al Qaeda and the Taliban; and (4) assisting the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, in evading US sanctions as it seeks to develop nuclear weapons.</blockquote>
Now, according to an <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/qatar-iran-attack-vessels-intelligence-allies">exclusive Fox News report</a> from this past weekend, Qatar — which, despite alienating its fellow Sunni Gulf states, maintains a cozy relationship with the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-iranian-revolution-forty-years-old-stand-josh-hammer">terror-supporting</a> Iranian mullahs — has once again revealed its true colors for the world to see. As reported by Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News obtained a report alleging that &#8220;Qatar had advance knowledge on an Iranian attack on four commercial vessels in the Gulf of Oman in May and may have failed to warn its U.S., French, and British allies.&#8221; In other words, Qatar duplicitously sided with the world&#8217;s number one state sponsor of terrorism over its purported Western &#8220;allies.&#8221;
The only thing that is surprising about such Qatari duplicity is that anyone in the West is still surprised by it. Qatar has long been the proverbial <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/qatar-is-the-weakest-link-in-an-arab-nato/">&#8220;weakest link&#8221;</a> of the Sunni world, utilizing aggressive governmental lobbying, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/fashion/qatar-luxury-fashion-national-museum-blockade.html">outlandish flaunting</a> of its petro-infused wealth to sic more A-list politicos onto its dole, and intensive funding of American <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/center/brookings-doha-center/">think tank</a> and higher education institutions to inculcate an insidious pro-Qatar message. As reported by the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">Daily Caller</a>, Qatar was the number one foreign state funder of U.S. institutions of higher education from 2011 t0 2016 — surpassing some states even hundreds of times its size, such as China.
Weinthal&#8217;s report ought to serve as a much-needed wakeup call for the more sclerotic elements of our bipartisan foreign policy ruling class. That ruling class is oftentimes overly deterred from meaningfully cracking down on Qatar by the U.S. military presence at Qatar&#8217;s Al Udeid Air Base. But it is ultimately myopic to permit our military&#8217;s presence at Al Udeid to pose an impregnable barrier to attempt to rein in this tiny but destructive nation. It is long past time for policymakers and the chattering class alike to arrive at the conclusion that Qatar is not our friend — at all.

Doha, Qatar

HAMMER: Terror-Funding Qatar Once Again Proves It Is Not America’s Friend

Al Jazeera

Foreign Policy

Hamas

Iran

Middle East

Qatar

Radical Islam

Radical Islamic Terror

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Saudi Arabia

We are only now beginning to understand the true extent of Qatar’s long campaign to subvert the American political establishment, to advance its own interests, and to advance the interests of <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/qatar-turkey/qatar-iran-turkey-alliance-erodes-regional-security-arab-weekly">close allies</a> Iran and Turkey. It seems like every passing month reveals <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/ords/f?p=1381:130:12387682161381::NO::P130_CNTRY:QA">more public figures</a> working to advance the Qatari agenda. The latest to be make headlines is former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
Following the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Smith raised eyebrows when she <a href="https://twitter.com/ambdana/status/1188446888967786499">objected</a> on Twitter to President Trump’s pitiless description of Baghdadi’s death. She <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbDana/status/1188446071019724803">wrote</a>: “This gruesome, vivid and probably exaggerated description of dogs chasing down Baghdadi will endanger our personnel in the region. … When bin Laden was killed, we were careful to be clear that he had been given a proper Muslim burial.”
To be sure, she <a href="https://twitter.com/AmbDana/status/1188454050372698114">added</a> that, “The killing of Baghdadi was unquestionably good and necessary.” But her larger objection was met with <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/10/28/obamas-qatar-ambassador-has-some-thoughts-on-the-way-president-trump-talked-about-the-death-of-al-baghdadi/">scorn</a> by many who found it hard to believe that Smith wanted due honors given to a violent <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Baghdadi-rapist-led-genocidal-caliphate-died-in-tunnel-606053">murderer and rapist</a> like Baghdadi.
Why, then, does Smith care so much about Baghdadi’s dignity?
Possibly it is not she who cares, but her friends in Qatar. Despite their claims of moderation, many Qataris actually support ISIS. A 2014 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/support-isis-stronger-arabic-social-media-europe-us-than-syria">study</a> found that 47% of Qatari Arabic language social media messages discussing ISIS were supportive — the highest percentage in the world. And this is just one instance of Qatar’s <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/qatar">long history</a> of supporting extremists, including al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Normally one wouldn’t assume that an ex-diplomat would parrot the opinions of her former host country. But Smith’s case is special. She has a <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFL1N21J0DJ">long history</a> of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/otaiba-ambassador-uae-leaked-emails_n_5932bf04e4b02478cb9bec1c">advocating for the interests</a> of Qatar. Earlier this year, investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield published a detailed <a href="https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/07/qatar-supporter-advising-kamala-harris-daniel-greenfield/">exposé</a> of Smith’s long history of advancing Qatari foreign policy — even while serving as U.S. ambassador.
Canadian businessman Alan Bender went further. Bender, who had spoken with high-level Qatari officials, said that Smith was being paid by Qatar through her <a href="https://www.fp4america.org/dana-shell-smith">consulting firm</a> <a href="https://sccefile.scc.virginia.gov/Business/S655876">Decibel Strategy LLC</a> — which Bender described as “her fake company in the U.S.” (The company has no public presence and does not describe its clients or services.)
Smith is not the only former diplomat to be working for Qatar’s interests. Even if we stick to public data, several former ambassadors have gone so far as to openly take Qatari money.
The list is impressive. Former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar (1995–1998) <a href="https://qataramerica.org/team/ambassador-patrick-theros/">Patrick Theros</a> was the long-serving president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, and also was one of the first board members of Qatar Foundation International. Amb. <a href="http://untermeyer.com/resume/">Chase Untermeyer</a> (2004–2007) did business consulting for U.S. firms operating in Qatar before becoming the founding chairman of the Qatar-America Institute in 2017. And Amb. <a href="https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/professionals/l/lebaron-joseph">Joseph LeBaron</a> (2008–2011) is now <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lebaron1">vice chair</a> of Daruna, a firm providing housing for migrant workers in Qatar and the chairman of which is Qatari royal family member Shaikh Nasser Al-Thani; LeBaron also became a senior advisor to Squire Patton Boggs, which has <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Exhibit-AB-19940201-DBKPB503.pdf">lobbied</a> for Qatar since 1994.
Other public figures known to have previously taken Qatari money include <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/23/rudy_giuliani_loves_america_except_when_hes_consulting_for_qatar/">Rudy Giuliani</a> and <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/ords/f?p=1381:130:12387682161381::NO::P130_CNTRY:QA">dozens</a> of lobbying firms in Washington. And Qatar-financed lobbyists Nick Muzin and Joey Allaham were the point-men in a controversial <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-lobbying-qatar-targeted-250-trump-influencers-to-change-u-s-policy-1535554647">Qatari campaign</a> to target some 250 “influencers” in and around the Trump administration, at least some of whom were handsomely paid themselves as a result. Qatar paid the pair $3 million for that effort, and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/qatari-lobbyists-received-millions-through-shadow-firm/">another</a> $3.9 million for “foster[ing] dialogue” with American business leaders.
It’s not illegal to take foreign money, as long as it is properly disclosed. But if Smith or Decibel Strategies is indeed being paid by Qatar, she has not disclosed it in a Foreign Agent Registration Act (<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2009-title22/pdf/USCODE-2009-title22-chap11-subchapII.pdf">FARA</a>) filing — though she is mentioned in other entity filings, having <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Supplemental-Statement-20160714-24.pdf">met</a> with Squire Patton Boggs several times while ambassador.
Whether or not Smith is actually on the Qatari payroll, she appears to be participating in a massive and well-funded effort by Qatar to subvert our foreign policy. This broad-spectrum effort includes <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">hundreds of millions</a> of dollars paid to our universities, for which Qatar has gotten <a href="https://twitter.com/Bush41Library/status/922929216953503744">valuable</a> <a href="https://www.qatar.georgetown.edu/news-events/news/report-highlights-georgetown%E2%80%99s-thought-leadership">quid pro quos</a>; the extensive propaganda operations of regime-owned Al Jazeera, which have sparked calls from lawmakers to make it <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/401145-al-jazeera-propagates-hatred-is-it-also-a-foreign-agent">disclose</a> its <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/al-jazeera-pushes-back-on-gop-effort-to-force-it-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent">activities</a> under FARA; and the well-publicized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/politics/foreign-powers-buy-influence-at-think-tanks.html">corrupting</a> of major think tanks such as the Brookings Institute. And that’s merely the legal elements of Qatar’s plan.
Qatar has every right to advocate for its interests, and even to hire American figures to make its case. But there is a difference between advocacy and corruption. American foreign policy needs to be built around America’s interests, not those of foreign countries with large bankrolls.
&nbsp;
Dr. Oren Litwin is a Fellow for <a href="https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/">Islamist Watch</a>, a project of the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a>.

Doha Qatar skyline

LITWIN: Former Diplomat And Top Kamala Harris Campaign Advisor Acts As Mouthpiece For Terror-Supporting Qatar

Al Qaeda

Islamic State (ISIS)

Kamala Harris

Terrorism

In reporting on apparent foreign influence within the president’s circles, The New York Times has raised questions about foreign influence inside of its own newsroom.
Last week, the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/us/politics/elliott-broidy-trump.html?register=email&amp;auth=register-email">published</a> a highly-publicized “scoop” on the supposed nefarious activities of Trump fundraiser and GOP mega donor Elliot Broidy, creating a narrative that accused the venture capitalist of improperly using his connections to the president to score major contracts for his work with the United Arab Emirates, among other countries.
Writers Ken Vogel, David Kirkpatrick, and Declan Walsh, who reported the piece, claimed to have exclusive access to private documents and emails that show evidence of improper behavior. They did not reveal how they got access to all of the private documents, particularly his personal communications.
Last year, Broidy <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/broidy-s-expanded-hack-allegations-fault-ex-spy-emir-s-brother">sued</a> the nation of Qatar, alleging that hackers working for the Qatari government stole emails and other communications from him. Some of the stolen documents have surfaced in a variety of media outlets, with many focusing on his relationship with Qatar’s regional rivals, such as Israel and other U.S. Gulf allies.
In response to The Times piece, Broidy’s team alleged that the stolen documents were “altered and cherry-picked out of context to present a false narrative about his business activities and public educational efforts that were entirely legitimate and legal.” The Times does not present the documents in their original form, so it’s not possible for the reader to decide whether or not they are authentic or providing an accurate and complete summary.
The Times also does not tell its readers that all three of the reporters on the byline of the story had earlier this year been contacted by foreign agents for the government of Qatar about the very topics that they all happen to be reporting on together.
According to March 2019 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) <a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6572-Supplemental-Statement-20190307-1.pdf">filings</a>, Vogel, Kirkpatrick, and Walsh, the three reporters on the story, were contacted by foreign lobbyists for Qatar specifically about the Broidy case. Of course, this does not provide definitive proof that Vogel and his colleagues got their scoop directly from Qatar. But their lack of transparency about their private communications with elements of the regime should certainly raise eyebrows about the objectivity and neutrality of their reporting.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I found docs showing both u &amp; the 2 other journos on this piece all communicated w/ Qatari lobbyists for their DC embassy prior to publishing story. Shouldn&#8217;t NYT readers know what foreign regimes u are getting info from when reporting on MidEast affairs?<a href="https://t.co/wFxJ8X5lM1">https://t.co/wFxJ8X5lM1</a>
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1161349795023339520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
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I asked Kenneth Vogel, the first reporter on the byline of the story, to comment on The Times reporters’ unreported communications with Qatar. He did not respond. Vogel has a history of biased reporting. He once infamously <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/289150-politico-reporter-sent-story-to-dem-committee-for-pre-publication">submitted a draft</a> of a story to the DNC before publishing it with his former employer. David Kirkpatrick, another reporter on the Broidy story, has a long history of <a href="https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/272935/egypt-bans-new-york-times-pro-muslim-brotherhood-daniel-greenfield">cozying</a> up to Qatar and providing fodder for the Islamist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/world/middleeast/trump-muslim-brotherhood.html">organizations</a> it funds and supports, such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
At a bare minimum, The Times owes it to its readers to acknowledge that lobbyists for Qatar were communicating with Times reporters about the man upon whom the Times now reports. To not include that in their report adds to suspicions that Qatar — which again, is accused of hacking Broidy — may have been the source for their “scoop” on his personal and professional dealings.
The nation’s “paper of record” has a demonstrated track record of extreme hostility to the president and to our critical allies in the Middle East. The hit piece on Broidy, which is a combined assault on the president and our Gulf allies, seems to benefit both of those goals.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act was enacted in 1938 — just three years prior to the U.S. entry into World War II — with the <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/a1624.pdf">goal</a> to hold individuals and companies accountable for working for the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Today, the FARA system provides a database of individuals and organizations that lobby on behalf of foreign nations, regardless of whether they are allies or adversaries. Today, FARA is to thank for holding biased journalists accountable, too.
Jordan Schachtel is a foreign policy analyst and investigative reporter.

New York Times

SCHACHTEL: The New York Times&#8217; Latest Anti-Trump Hit Piece Stinks Of Foreign Propaganda

Donald Trump

Israel

Media

Media Bias

Republican Party

“Peace to Prosperity” was the name of the economic “workshop” organized by Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and Steven Mnuchin in Bahrain. The topic was bettering the Palestinian economy with the hope of creating a more congenial atmosphere for co-existence between Israel and the Palestinian-Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza.
The event was plush, with Gulf Arabs dressed in pristine white tunics and <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-in-bahrain-air-of-israeli-arab-normalization-and-a-message-to-iran-1.7410754">where</a> “Israeli and Arab businessmen openly mingled at the non-alcoholic cocktail parties.&#8221; Fortune magazine <a href="https://fortune.com/2019/06/30/bahrain-summit-middle-east/">described</a> the global gathering: “Over 300 top delegates came from 30 countries, from Australia and Argentina; Dubai and Delhi; Nigeria and Norway; and even such unlikely pairings as Saudi Arabia and Qatar or Greece and Turkey.”
Almost all observers agreed that there was hope in the air.
Palestinians Are Not Buying What Jared Kushner Is Selling
However, while some Palestinian-Arab business leaders did come to Bahrain, the Palestinian Authority (PA) boycotted the event, and Time magazine summarized their feeling with the <a href="https://time.com/5617713/kushner-deal-century-manama-palestinians/">headline</a>: “Palestinians Are Not Buying What Jared Kushner Is Selling.”
Indeed, judging by the lack of progress in actual Israeli-Palestinian relations, the conference was an ostensible failure. But, as is often true in the Middle East, there was an unspoken agenda at the Bahrain “workshop” — and seen by that light, the gathering was a monumental success.
The Subtext of Bahrain: Normalization of Israel
While the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was the context of the Bahrain gathering, the subtext, and maybe bigger story, was the normalization of Israel among the elites of the Arab states.
First, there was the welcoming atmosphere for all participants, which should not be taken for granted since Israelis, until very recently, were barred from entering Bahrain at all.
Then, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/bahrain-fm-to-times-of-israel-israel-is-here-to-stay-and-we-want-peace-with-it/">spoke</a> with Israeli press on the sidelines of the workshop and told them: “Israel is a country in the region &#8230; and it’s there to stay, of course &#8230; we want better relations with it, and we want peace with it.”
Later, in a classic Middle East double-speak, the same Al Khalifa, when talking with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/bahrains-khalifa-says-interviews-to-israelis-nowhere-near-normalization/">said</a>: “There are those who say this is normalization. This is not normalization. This is not even a step toward normalization.”
But it was too late: The normalization cat was out of the bag.
Tracks for Regional Peace in Abu Dhabi 
The Bahrain workshop was soon followed by yet another high-level meeting between Israeli officials and Gulf state leaders. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz took part in a U.N. climate conference in Abu Dhabi and met with an unnamed “senior U.A.E. official” to discuss “regional issues and relations between the countries” — a victory in and of itself, given that Israel and the U.A.E. do not maintain formal diplomatic ties.
The meeting focused on “the need to deal with the Iranian threat and Iran’s support for terrorism in the region.” The two officials also discussed cooperation and economic ties, and finally, Katz presented his “Tracks for Regional Peace” initiative — a proposal to link Israel’s rail network through Jordan to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
If accepted, the plan would open up the region for travel, give Arab states access to Israel’s Mediterranean ports, and grant Israel trade access to the Arab world.
The message out of Abu Dhabi was the same as the one out of Bahrain — Israel’s normalization in Arab eyes.
The End of the 100-Year War
The Arab world has been fighting against the existence of a Jewish State since the British empire in 1917 issued the famous Balfour Declaration, which stated that &#8220;His Majesty&#8217;s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.&#8221;
In the failed hopes of destroying the small Jewish State, many wars have been fought and much blood has been spilled in the last century. But today, there are three reasons why powerful Arab states are looking to bury the hatchet with the people they attempted to destroy not so long ago:
The first reason is the grudging recognition that Israel has simply been victorious. The Arabs have failed to destroy Israel, and the Jewish State is flourishing in almost every parameter, successfully settling its people on the land that it claims.
The second reason is connected to the first — “if you can&#8217;t beat &#8217;em, join &#8217;em.” Many Arabs have begun realizing that since the war against the Jews hasn&#8217;t brought any real results, except regional stagnation, they ought to shift gears out of war and into business and prosperity.
And the third — and most visceral — reason that Arabs states are looking favorably upon Israel is the Iranian threat.
Everyone knows Iran endangers Israel, but Shiite Iran is much hungrier to take over the lands of the Sunni Arabs and the holy cities Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia than it is to enter into a nuclear standoff with the Jewish State. For a long time, Gulf Arabs relied on the U.S. for defense, but now, with a sense that America is less interested in being their bodyguard, the Arab eyes are, ironically, looking to the military power of Israel for their protection. The enemy of my enemy, as it is said, is my friend.
For many Arabs, it is obvious that the century-long war against Israel has yielded nothing. So instead of the war and the resulting stagnation, regional prosperity is the new focus. Additionally, the only regional force that can contain the aggressiveness of Iran is Israel.
Therefore, regional realignment and the normalization of Israel is now in the Arab world&#8217;s collective interest.
Those Who Never Miss an Opportunity
Israel’s former representative at the U.N., Abba Eban, said years ago that “the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” and Bahrain workshop was no different.
The PA boycotted the event, threatened anyone who would support it, and heartlessly refused to discuss a $50 billion plan to alleviate the suffering of its own governed people.
For the PA/PLO and Hamas, war with Israel is their raison d&#8217;etre — and a key fundraising strategy from patrons like Qatar, Iran, and some European countries who pay for the continued war on Israel in the guise of “humanitarian” assistance.
But for many Arabs states, the Palestinians have become a group who stands between them and normalization with Israel — something which would give them regional prosperity and personal security — and the end of the failed 100-year war.
Yishai Fleisher is the International Spokesman of the Jewish community of Hebron and an Israeli broadcaster.

FLEISHER: The End Of The 100-Year Arab-Israeli War

Jared Kushner

Palestinians

Steve Mnuchin

President Trump is scheduled to meet next week with the leader of Qatar, a country that has acted as a regular menace in the Middle East through the course of the Trump presidency. However, its actions have not been met with much in the way of recourse, thanks to a powerful lobbying network inside of the United States and influential legislators who are willing to go to bat for the Islamic supremacist slave-labor stronghold.
“Show me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are,” the biblical wisdom goes. And if the president wants to cut through the rhetoric and come to understand Qatar, its foreign policy, and its leader in the clearest way possible, he should get to know the emir’s closest adviser.
When President Trump meets next week in the White House with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the current emir of Qatar, the president should inquire about the Islamic radical madman that is one of the sheikh&#8217;s best friends.
One of the closest confidants of the emir is Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who is infamous in the Islamic world for his bloodthirsty hate preaching. This includes his use of religious edicts (known in Islam as fatwas) to condone murdering innocent lives. At the direction of the royal family that rules the country, Qatar has harbored Al-Qaradawi — known unofficially as the spiritual leader of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46714/hammer-designating-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-josh-hammer">global Muslim Brotherhood</a> — for decades.
In the post-9/11 world, the Islamic hate preacher has used his massive platform to provide the rhetorical backing for some of the world’s most violent terrorist organization.
Al-Qaradawi has openly advocated for jihadists to commit suicide bombing attacks against the West. He has claimed, through his supposed scholarship, that they can be religiously justified against American soldiers and Israeli civilians. In 2003, he <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100911144023/http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4&amp;section=0&amp;article=53683&amp;d=30&amp;m=10&amp;y=2004">issued a fatwa</a> proclaiming that Muslims should not hesitate to conduct suicide bombing attacks against pregnant Israeli women and their unborn children.
Described by the <a href="https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/anti-semitism/arab-world/Sheik-Yusuf-al-Qaradawi-2013-5-3-v1.pdf">Anti-Defamation League</a> as a “Theologian of Terror,” Al-Qaradawi has called for the killing of Jews “down to the very last one.”
In addition to his Jew-hatred, Al-Qaradawi has regularly <a href="https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/2/60239/Qaradawi-steps-down-as-head-of-IUMS-quits-speeching-hoax">authorized</a> and encouraged the killing of American soldiers who are deployed overseas.
It is an understatement to say that Al-Qaradawi is merely a regular guest at events hosted by the Qatari royal family. He is often the featured guest of honor. The Muslim Brotherhood menace is usually seated <a href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1500771/middle-east">directly next</a> to the emir, as was the case at a state Ramadan banquet just two months ago.
<a href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1500771/middle-east">Arab News</a> reported on the Ramadan event: “In lengthy footage of the reception, Qatar Television shows Al-Qaradawi as apparent guest of honor, sitting next to Sheikh Tamim and chatting cordially with him. Sheikh Tamim apparently kissed Al-Qaradawi, who was sitting in a wheelchair, on the forehead.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Here&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Qatar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Qatar</a>&#8216;s ruler hugging hate preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi last week, who authorized attacks vs Americans in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iraq?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iraq</a> and called the Holocaust divine punishment of the Jews for which he wanted a second round: <a href="https://t.co/Y8PIxSJoQu">https://t.co/Y8PIxSJoQu</a> <a href="https://t.co/2PUnjVYgn3">pic.twitter.com/2PUnjVYgn3</a>
— David A. Weinberg (@DavidAWeinberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAWeinberg/status/1004005378986795008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Fact: in the same 24 hours extremist preacher Yousef al-Qaradawi published his latest dehumanizing slander against the Jewish people, he was also kissed on the forehead by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Qatar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Qatar</a>&#8216;s ruler and given the best iftar seat in the house, by Tamim&#8217;s side &amp; ahead of all other preachers. <a href="https://t.co/DhEbq4Mp6E">pic.twitter.com/DhEbq4Mp6E</a>
— David A. Weinberg (@DavidAWeinberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAWeinberg/status/1131203426187194368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
And this was not a one-off occurrence. Year after year, the Islamic hate preacher is continually seated as the guest of <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAWeinberg/status/1131204998136762368">honor</a>, directly next to the emir, at the highest-level state functions.
His bigoted statements, fatwas, and calls to violence have never received the slightest reprimand from his hosts in Qatar. In fact, they continue to glorify and sanction the extremist leader by publicly showcasing his close proximity to the emir. The very opposite of a reprimand, this signals that the emir endorses Al-Qaradawi’s statements and tactics.
Al-Qaradawi is not just a regular presence at the emir’s palace. For many years, he was a featured host on Qatar’s state-controlled Al Jazeera media network. The emir’s close pal has used his platform to call for violence against any and all enemies of Islamist fundamentalists, and he has promoted this dangerous incitement and bigotry to millions of viewers on Al Jazeera Arabic — which again, is fully controlled by the Qatari royal family. His public calls for violence and terror have resulted in his <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/muslim-brotherhood-spiritual-leader-yusuf-al-qaradawi-s-app-banned-by-google-1.860315">banishment</a> from much of the Middle East and the Western world. Additionally, the United States has <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/muslim-brotherhood-spiritual-leader-yusuf-al-qaradawi-s-app-banned-by-google-1.860315">sanctioned</a> a charity once run by Al-Qaradawi as a foreign terrorist organization. Without the state backing of Qatar, the hate preacher would have nowhere near the large platform that he has today.
When questions surface about the Qatari royals’ ties to radical Islamist entities and hate preachers like Al-Qaradawi, the standard line of reasoning that comes out of Qatar’s diplomatic channels is that they are simply acting as a <a href="http://washington.embassy.qa/en/qatar-us-relations/global-intermediary">“global intermediary”</a> for their allies such as the United States. But this justification falls flat on its face when we observe that the Al-Thani-Al-Qaradawi bond has nothing to do with its supposed intermediary work, just as its longtime and continuing <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/al-jazeera-promotes-documentary-glorifying-osama-bin-laden/">glorification</a> of Osama bin Laden has nothing to do with acting as a mediator in any sense. Qatar has a long, proven track record of providing overt and covert aid to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations and their leadership. And the Al-Thani-Al-Qaradawi bond is perhaps the clearest example that Qatar is playing for the other team in our global war on Islamist extremism.
Jordan Schachtel is a foreign policy analyst and investigative reporter.

SCHACHTEL: Trump Needs To Confront The Qatari Emir On His Terrorist Best Friend

Trump Administration

The realignment of the 21st century Middle East can more easily be understood by separating the countries that have chosen to embrace nationalism versus those that have doubled down on the doctrine of Islamic supremacism &#8212; otherwise known as Islamism. U.S. Arab allies in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and others have collectively moved in near lockstep with President Trump&#8217;s foreign policy doctrine, as expressed in his landmark <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-trumps-speech-arab-islamic-american-summit/">Riyadh speech</a>, in which the commander-in-chief called upon our regional partners to &#8220;drive out&#8221; the radicals in the Middle East and from within their own governments. Other paper allies, like Qatar and Turkey, have chosen to embrace those radicals, fund their revolutionary movements, and stir broader regional chaos.
The nationalist movement in the Middle East has convinced many of our Arab allies to largely abandon past policies that involved aiding and abetting troublesome regional groups and Islamist movements. Saudi Arabia, once a noted regional troublemaker, has largely returned to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/24/i-will-return-saudi-arabia-moderate-islam-crown-prince">&#8220;moderate Islam&#8221;</a> that disavows the fundamentalist radical movements both inside and outside Riyadh. Additionally, our regional allies have invested heavily in internal development and advancement, which has tremendously bolstered individual rights and other human freedoms (including the advancement of women&#8217;s rights) inside of their respective nations. These policies have encouraged cooperation and healthy competition between fellow partner nations. The embrace of the concept of sovereignty has become a regional gamechanger for the promise of long-term peace and security, but that doesn&#8217;t mean there aren&#8217;t any holdouts.
Qatar has outright refused to embrace the regional nationalist movement. Instead, Doha continues to not-so-quietly abuse the sovereignty of its neighbors, meddle in their affairs, and incite Islamist rebellions throughout the entire region. Though Qatar claims to be a U.S. ally in good standing, evidence remains plentiful that the ultra-wealthy ruling family in Doha continues to <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/qatar">harbor</a> international terrorists, give major media platforms to anti-American <a href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1475626/middle-east">hate preachers</a>, and provide regular aid and support for U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. This is because Islamic supremacism remains the core ideology of Qatar&#8217;s ruling class.
This developing nationalist-Islamist divide in the Gulf has acted to separate Qatar from its once-reliable regional partner and push the country even further into Iran&#8217;s orbit.
Yes, the rulers of Qatar are Sunni fundamentalists, while the mullahs in Tehran are Shia supremacists. But this is only a minor hurdle when compared to the higher-level competing ideologies of Islamist revanchism and reformist nationalism. Iran and Qatar remain ideologically linked through their shared principle of Islamic supremacism, and a shared disdain for the West and its values.
Perhaps the most well-known modern example of this Sunni-Shia extremist partnership is the long-running alliance between Al Qaeda and Iran, which have on many occasions <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2018/08/08/the-al-qaeda-iran-connection/">collaborated</a> in terrorist attacks and long-term plots against their common enemies. In a 2007 <a href="https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/AlQaeda">letter</a>, since-killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden infamously described Iran as &#8220;our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication.&#8221;
While there&#8217;s no discounting the ideological connection in the Qatar-Iran nexus, the two nations also have overwhelming economic links, starting with their shared territorial occupation of the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northfield-qatar/factbox-qatar-iran-share-worlds-biggest-gas-field-idUSTRE66P1VV20100726">world&#8217;s largest gas field</a>. With its economic ties to Tehran in mind, Qatar has consistently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-oil-qatar/qatar-says-tightening-iran-sanctions-harms-oil-consuming-nations-idUSKCN1S747K">pushed back</a> at the idea that Iran should face any economic sanctions over its support for terrorism. In May, Qatar&#8217;s foreign minister advised that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-oil-qatar/qatar-says-tightening-iran-sanctions-harms-oil-consuming-nations-idUSKCN1S747K">&#8220;dialogue,&#8221;</a> not sanctions, is the answer to the Iran issue. Qatar itself has regularly thwarted U.S. sanctions against Iran to continue to do business with the regime. In fact, Qatar values trade with Iran to such a degree that Doha has publicly stated it would <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thebakersinstitute/2018/12/04/qatar-to-saudi-arabia-we-would-rather-quit-opec-than-cut-relations-with-iran-or-shutter-al-jazeera/#33bfebfc222b">quit the powerful OPEC cartel</a> before severing ties with Iran. During the recent Gulf Cooperation Council blockade against Qatar, Iran (alongside Turkey) served as an integral <a href="https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/facing-embargoes-iran-and-qatar-deepen-trade-ties">lifeline</a> for Qatar, allowing the regime to thwart a regional trade embargo. Since 2016, trade between Iran and Qatar has <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/gcc-dispute-pushes-iran-and-qatar-closer-but-with-caveats">doubled</a> or more across several sectors.
Both Iran and Qatar have dedicated much of the past few years to sowing chaos across the Middle East. Iran, for its part, has launched direct attacks (through its proxies) against Arab nations. Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah have accelerated the ongoing genocide in Syria. Iran-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen are launching direct attacks upon Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations. Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas are antagonizing Egypt and Israel by banging the war drums in Gaza. Yet through it all, Doha has <a href="https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/96373/doha-calls-for-strong-relations-with-tehran">continued</a> to insist upon closer relations with Iran. The Qatar-Iran relationship has not at all been fazed by recent direct Iranian militant and proxy attacks upon Arab oil tankers and vessels &#8212; and even the shooting down of an American unmanned aerial vehicle in the Gulf. Earlier this month, as the U.S. and our allies formally condemned Iran for its state-sponsored terror, Qatari leaders were <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-qatar-saudi/29978053.html">singing the praises</a> of the Tehran regime. Doha even explicitly rejected the outcome of an emergency Arab summit condemning Iran in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the Gulf vessels and Houthi rocket strikes against an international airport in Saudi Arabia.
Qatar and Iran have a shared ideological commitment to imposing regional carnage. And these shared principles make up the DNA of their respective leaderships. The Middle East has separated into two primary ideological camps. To Qatar and Iran, Islamic supremacism &#8212; and not reformist nationalism &#8212; is the way forward for the region. Qatar has remained incredibly resilient in rejecting pressure from America and our regional partners. It&#8217;s time we recognize that Qatar, by cozying up to Iran and its terrorist allies, has breached the point of no return.

Jordan Schachtel is a foreign policy analyst and investigative reporter.

SCHACHTEL: The Iran-Qatar Axis Of Islamism Stands Against America And Our Sunni Arab Allies

Al Jazeera, the radical Islamist media empire that is fully controlled by the nation of Qatar, is breaking American laws by continuing to operate in the United States without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). There is no distinction between Al Jazeera and the nation of Qatar. They are the same entity, and the evidence is available for anyone to observe.
FARA was originally enacted in 1938 &#8212; just three years prior to the U.S. entry into World War II &#8212; with the <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/a1624.pdf">goal</a> to keep tabs on individuals and companies working for the Communist Soviet Union and for Nazi Germany. Today, FARA provides a database of individuals and groups that lobby on behalf of foreign nations, both friends and foes alike.
New guidance issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which presides over FARA, has required several state-owned entities to register under its guidelines. Given the newfound attention to foreign meddling in American politics, the DOJ took up a new initiative to update compliance practices over the past couple of years. Several China- and Russia-controlled state media entities have already followed suit, registering under FARA and fulfilling their compliance obligations.
Al Jazeera, on the other hand, has ignored the new guidance and has misled the public about its true nature.
Al Jazeera is owned by Al Jazeera Media Network, which is currently chaired by Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family. The media outfit was founded in the mid-1990s thanks to a $150 million grant from Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/world/middleeast/04jazeera.html?mtrref=undefined&amp;gwh=AAD425AD04B3A0C55EAFCDE598B15CC3&amp;gwt=pay">according</a> to The New York Times. At the time, the sheikh was serving as the leader, or emir, of Qatar. In 2013, he passed the torch to his aforementioned cousin, who operates the network today.
Since its founding, there has never been a disconnect between Al Jazeera and Qatar. No policies have been supported on Al Jazeera&#8217;s airwaves that even remotely contradict Qatar&#8217;s policy objectives. There has never been non-Qatari royal leadership at the top of Al Jazeera. And all of the money that funds Al Jazeera comes directly from the government of Qatar&#8217;s coffers. In recognizing this reality, lawmakers in Congress have waged a renewed push for the media conglomerate to register under FARA.
Last week, a group of Republican senators wrote a letter to DOJ asking that Al Jazeera registered as a foreign agent.
&#8220;When the available evidence is taken as a whole, it appears that Al Jazeera&#8217;s broadcasts, including AJ+, mirror the policies and preferences of the Qatari government, which, together with the state funding and other indicia of agency, demonstrate that Al Jazeera and its media subsidiaries act as alter egos of the Qatari government in ensuring dissemination of the government&#8217;s viewpoints,&#8221; read a <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/lawmakers-seek-fara-evaluation-qatari-owned-al-jazeera">letter</a> signed by the likes of Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Tom Cotton (R-AR), among others.
The letter continues (internal citations omitted):
<blockquote>
&#8220;In addition to Al Jazeera seemingly operating as an agent of the Qatari government, its potential obligation to register under FARA may be triggered by two other provisions in the statute. First, because it produces and distributes content and secures access within the United States, it has arguably engage[d] directly or indirectly in the &#8230; dissemination of &#8230; broadcasts, and therefore may have served as a publicity agent. Second, because its programming concerned conditions of a foreign government or foreign country, including but not limited to Qatar, Al Jazeera may have served as an information-service employee by furnishing, disseminating, or publishing its programs.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Since its inception, Al Jazeera has bolstered the world&#8217;s most notorious extremists. Today, in 2019, It continues that work. Watch enough Al Jazeera Arabic, and you may run into a host who forcefully declares that jihadi suicide bombers are holy <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-problem-al-jazeera-11239">&#8220;martyrs.&#8221;</a> You may also find the network <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/al-jazeera-promotes-documentary-glorifying-osama-bin-laden/">glorifying</a> infamous Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and <a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/region/qatar-crisis/gargash-lists-instances-of-al-jazeeras-inflammatory-reporting">other</a> terrorist leaders. On a bigger scale, Al Jazeera weaponizes its &#8220;coverage&#8221; of Middle East affairs to incite Islamist rebellions in rival nations.
At the same time, Qatar claims to be a <a href="https://securitystudies.org/qatar-us-ally-or-global-menace-conference-transcript/">reliable</a> U.S. ally &#8212; even as its leaders in Doha continues to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/qatar-distributes-funds-gaza-families-190620092945323.html">aid and abet</a> U.S.-designated terrorist groups and fill Al Jazeera&#8217;s airwaves with anti-American, pro-terrorist agitprop.
Importantly, Al Jazeera&#8217;s English-language coverage is far different from what is seen on Al Jazeera Arabic. The English programming is uniquely curated for a Western, progressive audience. Knowing that praising radical Islamists may not win over the hearts and minds of Americans, the management at Al Jazeera English, as well as its social media-heavy brand AJ+, has decided to strike themes that are more comfortable to Westerners. But the goals remain the same. In both English and Arabic, Al Jazeera has one purpose: Advancing the objectives of the royal family that rules Qatar.
However, Al Jazeera, through a third-party firm representing the media outfit, has rejected the claim that it is a wholly-owned and controlled entity of the state of Qatar. The third-party firm <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/al-jazeera-pushes-back-on-gop-effort-to-force-it-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent">told</a> the Washington Examiner last week that the Islamist media outlet &#8220;is not owned by Qatar&#8221; and that &#8220;its reporting is not directed or controlled by the Qatari government nor does it reflect any government viewpoint.&#8221;
This is simply not true. On paper, lawyers can devise crafty language to claim that Al Jazeera is not directly owned by Qatar. But it is a reality that the Qatari royals that control the network use it as an organ for the expressed purpose to support and advance Doha&#8217;s position of power in the world.
Having Al Jazeera register under FARA will provide much-needed transparency for efforts to uncover Qatar&#8217;s cash-flush influence operations in Washington, D.C. If Al Jazeera registers under FARA, its paid agents in the United States will also have to file disclosures about the work that they are doing for the Doha regime. Additionally, FARA compliance will ensure that both the general public and government officials can understand Al Jazeera&#8217;s radical Islamist programming as a means to advance Qatar&#8217;s national interests. Perhaps then, more and more members of Congress and the Trump administration will come to understand that Qatar is not the partner and ally that the emirs in Doha claim it to be.

Jordan Schachtel is a foreign policy analyst and investigative reporter.

SCHACHTEL: Qatar Is Breaking The Law By Not Registering Al Jazeera As Its Foreign Agent

Department of Justice

Following on the heels of its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48033/al-jazeera-promotes-pride-while-its-state-backer-josh-hammer">recent</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">controversies</a> for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27428/gop-and-dems-congress-urge-doj-investigate-al-hank-berrien">anti-Semitism</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">Holocaust denial</a>, Qatar&#8217;s Al Jazeera Arabic network this week featured a former Hamas leader praising the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood&#8217;s assistance in conducting missile attacks on Israeli civilians.
Broadcasting from Al Jazeera&#8217;s studios in Doha, former Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbsxR-Zh_fA&amp;feature=youtu.be">eulogized</a> the former Egyptian President <a href="https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1141450582999392257">Mohamed Morsi</a>, who died of a heart attack on Monday in a Cairo courthouse. He offered condolences to the people of Egypt for the loss of &#8220;a great man,&#8221; reminding the network&#8217;s Arabic audience that Morsi had repeatedly challenged Israel while in office.
In the midst of an hours-long memorial broadcast brimming with incitement against Qatar&#8217;s enemies, including Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Mashal praised the deceased Morsi for assisting Hamas&#8217; bombardment of civilians in Israel.
&#8220;With Morsi&#8217;s support in Cairo,&#8221; the Hamas leader said, &#8220;our great resistance factions &#8212; including Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades &#8212; had bombed the heart of Israel.&#8221;
Mashal praised a fiery speech given by Morsi in November 2012, in which he expressed his opposition to Israel and the United States. &#8220;That&#8217;s when the great Egyptian state, inspired by its great leader [Mohammed Morsi] said no to Israel, no to America. Their aggression must come to an end.&#8221;
Throughout the day&#8217;s broadcast, Al Jazeera compared Morsi&#8217;s death to the 2004 demise of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, misleadingly dubbing both to be &#8220;murder.&#8221; The network described Morsi as a &#8220;martyr&#8221; and repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the Brotherhood leader was &#8220;slowly assassinated&#8221; by the current government headed by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in 2013.
This narrative has been advanced in the west by Human Rights Watch&#8217;s director for Middle East and North Africa Sarah Leah Whitson, who accused the Egyptian government of &#8220;criminal negligence&#8221; in providing for Morsi&#8217;s health care while in prison. The allegation drew a <a href="https://egyptindependent.com/egypts-sis-hrw-uses-morsis-death-for-political-purposes/">strong rebuke</a> from Egyptian authorities.
&#8220;It is surprising that Whitson posted her first tweets less than 30 minutes after the death and concluded that he died as a result of medical negligence, though no evidence or information was provided to prove her allegations,&#8221; Egypt&#8217;s State Information Service said in a statement.
The Brotherhood leader was facing life in prison for sharing classified information with Qatar through Al Jazeera while in office. After the popular uprisings that led to his government&#8217;s fall in 2013, Morsi and 10 others were convicted of life sentences for leaking classified information to Qatari authorities through journalists at Al Jazeera&#8217;s Cairo bureau. Morsi and Brotherhood compatriots were also charged with providing secret assistance to foreign militant groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard Corps &#8212; as well as for his role in a 2011 break from Wadi el-Natrun prison.
The blatantly <a href="https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1141284508089683968">pro-Muslim Brotherhood network</a> stated that the only two heads of states who had condemned Morsi&#8217;s &#8216;murder&#8217; were the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Turkish dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. No surprise there, alas, as Erdogan has become the new godfather of the Brotherhood.
For most of the day, Al Jazeera&#8217;s featured guest was <a href="https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1141141041237676033">Erdogan</a>, a staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and the largest <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/3rd-straight-year-turkey-jailed-journalists-country-report/story?id=59791362">jailer of journalists</a> in the world. Erdogan <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbRnYNZGl9A&amp;feature=youtu.be">described</a> el-Sisi&#8217;s Egyptian government as a &#8220;tyranny,&#8221; and lashed out at Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates &#8212; two Islamic countries that strongly support Sisi against the Brotherhood &#8212; for remaining silent with respect to Morsi&#8217;s death.
Throughout its news bulletins, the Qatari media outlet strongly criticized Cairo for allowing a reporter from <a href="https://www.aljazeera.net/news/politics/2019/6/19/&#1605;&#1589;&#1585;-&#1578;&#1587;&#1605;&#1581;-&#1604;&#1589;&#1581;&#1601;&#1610;-&#1573;&#1587;&#1585;&#1575;&#1574;&#1610;&#1604;&#1610;-&#1576;&#1586;&#1610;&#1575;&#1585;&#1577;-&#1602;&#1576;&#1585;-&#1605;&#1585;&#1587;&#1610;">Israeli national television</a> to cover the event and tour the streets of the Egyptian capital, claiming that the <a href="https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1141427933246119936">reporter</a> was &#8220;inaccurate&#8221; when he stated that Egyptian people were not moved by Morsi&#8217;s death.
This latest controversy comes amid renewed scrutiny of the Qatari network in the United States.
On Capitol Hill, Al Jazeera has recently come under fire from members of Congress who are urging the Qatari state-controlled outlet to register with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). Kremlin-funded Russia Today registered under FARA in 2017 and has since been denied press credentials by the Congressional Press Association.
&#8220;If any question remained about whether Al Jazeera is an independent news network or an organ of radical Islamist propaganda, it has now been put to rest,&#8221; wrote Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) in <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/the-mask-drops-at-al-jazeera">the Washington Examiner</a> this month. As The Washington Free Beacon&#8217;s Adam Kredo has reported, Bergman had a subsequent <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/firm-working-for-al-jazeera-demands-gop-rep-correct-op-ed/">testy exchange</a> over the issue with an attorney at DLA Piper, a prominent law firm that has been retained by Al Jazeera. The congressman called out the law firm&#8217;s &#8220;heavy-handed attempt to intimidate a Member of Congress to advance the interests of a foreign government that promotes Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism.&#8221;

Al Jazeera Promotes Hamas&#8217; War On Israel In Broadcast For Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Leader

Anti-Semitism

Egypt

Bahrain is set to be the center of the Middle East on June 25-26 when the country&#8217;s capital, Manama, hosts an economic investment conference intended to inject wealth into the Palestinian economy and lay the foundation for President Donald Trump&#8217;s upcoming &#8220;deal of the century&#8221; proposal between Israel and the Palestinians. The Bahraini &#8220;Peace to Prosperity&#8221; economic workshop announced on May 19 is a dual effort between the U.S. and Bahrain to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/joint-statement-united-states-america-kingdom-bahrain/">&#8220;galvanize support for potential economic investments and initiatives&#8221;</a> and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/joint-statement-united-states-america-kingdom-bahrain/ents and initiatives">&#8220;facilitate discussions on an ambitious, achievable vision and framework for a prosperous future for the Palestinian people and the region.&#8221;</a>
Participating countries include Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and a large contingent of the Gulf Cooperation Council &#8212; Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Global powers Russia and China will not partake in the conference. Israel is yet to be formally invited to the summit, with senior adviser Jared Kushner <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-weeks-out-from-bahrain-summit-israel-said-yet-to-receive-official-invite/">reportedly</a> delaying an official invitation until the list of Arab states in attendance is finalized.
Notably boycotting the workshop is the Palestinian Authority, which, despite being the focal point and ultimate beneficiaries of the event, rejects the legitimacy of the conference because <a href="https://www.nad.ps/en/media-room/press-releases/dr-saeb-erekat-manama-economic-meeting">&#8220;Palestine&#8217;s full economic potential can only be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation,&#8221;</a> according to Dr. Saeb Erekat, a Palestine Liberation Organization diplomat. Various Palestinian trade organizations &#8212; accounting for nearly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/palestinian-business-groups-say-they-won-t-go-to-bahrain-summit">80% of the Palestinian GDP</a> &#8212; have likewise declined invitations to attend, similarly objecting due to the lack of promise of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/palestinian-business-groups-say-they-won-t-go-to-bahrain-summit">&#8220;freedom and sovereignty for Palestinians.&#8221;</a>
The Palestinian leadership and major trade organizations are outright refusing to even entertain an influx of wealth into their impoverished land &#8212; as though a revitalized economy is a detriment to the well-being of the Palestinian people. Given the utter impossibility of the Palestinians&#8217; demand of full control over all of the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, the unwillingness of the Palestinian leadership to hear out the economic plan at the summit appears to be deeply cynical.
What government would blatantly reject a plan intended to augment the country&#8217;s economic standing? None, excepting the Palestinian leadership, because to do so is possibly the most obvious disservice to Palestinian denizens and industry alike. Yet for the Palestinians, this is part of a much larger play.
The Palestinian &#8220;struggle,&#8221; which has garnered so much favor among mainstream media and international supporters, thrives exclusively on the plight of the Palestinians and the intense suffering that continues to be passed off as an outcome of alleged Israeli interventionism and discrimination. To the Palestinian leadership, a revitalized economy and regional stability would run wholly counter to the messages of despair at the hands of Israelis and would distract from their prime objective of the destruction of Israel altogether. As evidenced by their attempt to <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinians-urge-Egypt-Jordan-to-reconsider-going-to-US-led-conference-592252">block</a> the summit, the Palestinian government does not strive for a better society. Instead, the Palestinian government mobilizes its populace and the international community against Israel &#8212; at Palestinians&#8217; own expense.
Due to this, terrorism in Palestinian society is incentivized instead of the promotion of beneficial public works programs. Anti-Semitism, furthermore, is a state-sponsored cause. Rather than fund secular schooling for Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority commits significant resources to the delegitimization of Israel in school settings. Only <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/the-palestinian-textbook-fiasco/">7% of photographs</a> in Palestinian textbooks recognize any Israeli claim to territory. A U.S. State Department-funded study revealed that <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/the-palestinian-textbook-fiasco/">87% of Palestinian books</a> depict Israel and Israelis in a negative characterization, and almost all &#8212; excepting a singular instance &#8212; depict Judaism in a negative light. The Palestinian education system demonstrates another facet of its over-arching hatred and incompetence: Educational advancement is sacrificed for indoctrination and hatred.
The Palestinian Authority also directly funds terrorist activities and diverts sizable quantities of funds from beneficial government activities in order to do so. In March 2018, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-authority-payments-to-terrorists">approved</a> the allocation of $360 million &#8212; 7% of the GDP of the government &#8212; towards the compensation of terrorists and families funneled through two government institutions: The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Fund for Families of Martyrs and the Injured. Since 2013, these payments have in sum <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-authority-payments-to-terrorists">exceeded $1.5 billion</a>. In 2017, these payments accounted for a whopping <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-authority-payments-to-terrorists">49.6% of the foreign humanitarian aid</a> received by the Palestinian Authority.
The persistent pattern of the Palestinian Authority to slander and physically harm Israelis has culminated in the outright rejection of the Bahrain summit. No proposal for peace or economic prosperity will satisfy the Palestinian leadership. Ideals of rejectionism and confrontation with Israelis are so firmly engrained in Palestinian society, reaching children in schools and accounting for immense amounts of the national economy. The fundamental fault for a continued conflict lies not with Israel or with any particular United States plan, but with a culture of bigotry and state-sponsored incitement adopted by the Palestinians.

PHILLIPS: Upcoming Bahrain Summit Yet Again Showcases Palestinians&#8217; Refusal To Negotiate

Qatari-owned state propaganda network Al Jazeera has recently found itself in some hot water. Specifically, as The Daily Wire <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/47411/watch-anti-israel-holocaust-video-al-jazeera-ryan-saavedra">reported</a>, the network recently engaged in outrageous Holocaust denialism and claimed that &#8220;Zionists&#8221; were complicit with the Third Reich:
<blockquote>
&#8220;The narrative that six million Jews were killed by the Nazi movement was adopted by the Zionist movement, and it is being reiterated every year on the so-called &#8216;Holocaust Memorial Day,'&#8221; the video begins, according to a translation provided by the <a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/al-jazeera-holocaust-denial-israel-biggest-winner-same-justification-annihilate-palestinians/transcript">Middle East Media Research Institute</a> (MEMRI). &#8220;After the Holocaust, the Zionist movement claimed that 2 out of every 3 Jews were killed.&#8221;
The video states that the Jews were just &#8220;part&#8221; of who Hitler targeted, and that they are the only group that is remembered because &#8220;the Jewish groups had financial resources, media institutions, research centers, and academic voices that managed to put a special spotlight on the Jewish victims of the Nazis.&#8221;
The video states that the number of those killed in the Holocaust &#8220;remains one of the most prominent historical debates to this day.&#8221;
</blockquote>
At the time, I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47456/hammer-al-jazeeras-disgraceful-holocaust-denying-josh-hammer">argued</a> for The Daily Wire that the video was merely emblematic of broader Qatari evil:
<blockquote>
[E]ven Qatar&#8217;s non-Islamist, Western-aligned regional Arab foes despise the disruptive, jihadist incitement that routinely blares from Al Jazeera&#8217;s airwaves. When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain instituted an embargo of Qatar in June 2017, one of the Western-aligned Arab nations&#8217; leading demands was that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/middleeast/gulf-nations-qatar-demands/index.html">Al Jazeera be shuttered once and for all</a>. As but one small example, Al Jazeera gives Yusuf Al Qaradawi &#8212; the Egyptian-born, Doha-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood &#8212; a prominent platform. Qaradawi has engaged in on-air Holocaust denialism and incitement of suicide bombings against U.S. troops in the Middle East on Al Jazeera television.
</blockquote>
But Qatar routinely tries to beguile Western viewers by obfuscating its North American Al Jazeera channel, &#8220;AJ+,&#8221; as a hotbed of progressivism &#8212; in contradistinction to the overt Islamist incitement that is emitted from its Arabic channel. In a terrific <a href="https://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/298975/qatar-shows-two-faces-to-the-world/">recent cover story</a> for the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, David Reaboi shined a spotlight on such Qatari duplicity:
<blockquote>
Al Jazeera is the world&#8217;s most successful and influential state-directed information operation. Its sophistication is evident in its ability to promote two very different messages to two audiences simultaneously. In Arabic, Al Jazeera pushes a stream of vile, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and attempts to rile up religious and extremist Muslims against attempts at positive, human rights reforms in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. In English, however, Al-Jazeera presents itself as progressive and left wing, attacking these same nations efforts at reform as fake and inadequate. A rebranding in English as &#8220;AJ+&#8221; was further meant to obscure the Islamist-run network and to appeal to younger people in the West, with social media material in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.
</blockquote>
Now, Seth Frantzman of The Jerusalem Post has pinpointed a <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Qatar-bans-homosexuality-Al-Jazeera-marks-LGBT-Pride-Month-in-English-591528">perfect example</a> of strident Qatari hypocrisy. &#8220;AJ+,&#8221; as it turns out, has been celebrating June as LGBT &#8220;Pride&#8221; month:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We spoke with the cast of &#8220;Queer Eye&#8221; about LGBTQ issues including:
Religion&#8217;s effect on youth 
Gender visibility 
Community through social media 
What makes us not so different <a href="https://t.co/CLThKYSFIk">pic.twitter.com/CLThKYSFIk</a>
&#8212; AJ+ (@ajplus) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1134575529653362688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
But in reality, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Qatar-bans-homosexuality-Al-Jazeera-marks-LGBT-Pride-Month-in-English-591528">Frantzman says</a>, Qatar &#8212; which is a sharia-run hardline Sunni Islamist emirate &#8212; criminalizes homosexual conduct:
<blockquote>
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) &#8211; which is dedicated to achieving equal rights for LGBT people worldwide &#8211; documents Qatar&#8217;s laws against gay rights. According to ILGA, article 258 of Qatar&#8217;s legal code condemns any man who &#8220;copulates with a male,&#8221; imposing a term of seven years in prison. Article 296 condemns to prison anyone who is engaged in &#8220;leading, instigating or seducing a male in any way to commit sodomy.&#8221; &#8230;
Online AJ+&#8217;s embrace of gay rights while Qatar cracks down was spotlighted. Journalist Oz Katerji tweeted that &#8220;homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with gay sex punishable by between 1 and 3 years in prison.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Hypocrisy indeed.

Al Jazeera Promotes ‘Pride’ While Its State Backer, Qatar, Criminalizes Homosexual Conduct

Leftism

LGBT

Progressivism

Over the weekend, Qatari regime propaganda outfit Al Jazeera published and subsequently took down an <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/47411/watch-anti-israel-holocaust-video-al-jazeera-ryan-saavedra">unfathomably anti-Semitic video</a> that questioned the number of Jews murdered by the Third Reich, accused Jews of exploiting the unprecedented genocide of the Shoah in order to curry favor for a Zionist state, and argued that Zionism itself is ideologically derivative of genocidal Nazi ideology. The <a href="http://www.memri.org">Middle East Media Research Institute</a> (MEMRI) deserves much in the way of credit for exposing this and helping to shame Al Jazeera into taking down the vile video.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
1/2 Holocaust Denial on Al-Jazeera Network: Israel Is Biggest Winner from Holocaust; It Uses the Same Justification to Annihilate the Palestinians (Thread&#8230;) <a href="https://t.co/y8eJxXdZy8">pic.twitter.com/y8eJxXdZy8</a>
&#8212; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1130038755589541889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
MEMRI Translates Antisemitic Video On Al-Jazeera Network Stating Israel Is Biggest Winner From Holocaust, Uses &#8216;Same Justification&#8217; To Annihilate Palestinians; Al-Jazeera Fires Journalists, Announces &#8216;Bias And Sensitivity Training&#8217;<a href="https://t.co/PMPMsOq9PV">https://t.co/PMPMsOq9PV</a> <a href="https://t.co/F5Y6MG3w3L">pic.twitter.com/F5Y6MG3w3L</a>
&#8212; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1130527011410198528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
This is truly awful stuff. Although it ought not to be breaking news that Al Jazeera, which is funded by the <a href="http://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">lavish terror-supporting emirs</a> of the duplicitous Qatari regime and which previously served as the preferred mouthpiece for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, has a wee bit of an institutional anti-Semitism problem. As anti-Islamism activist David Reaboi <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/17/qatar-a-hospitable-base-for-the-muslim-130932598/">wrote</a> in The Washington Times in February:
<blockquote>
Since Qatar&#8217;s most prominent export &#8212; the state-owned television network Al Jazeera &#8212; was founded in 1996, the [Muslim] Brotherhood has played a crucial role in programming and setting the editorial line, providing the network&#8217;s strong ideologically Islamist backing. &#8230;
In fact, Al Jazeera is the world&#8217;s most successful, sophisticated and influential state-directed information operation.
It is remarkably aggressive in service of Qatar&#8217;s foreign policy interests, which include four key elements: (1) undermining the stability of its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; (2) promoting Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood in vulnerable, Western open societies; (3) financially and diplomatically supporting violent terrorist groups like Hamas, al Qaeda and the Taliban; and (4) assisting the world&#8217;s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, in evading US sanctions as it seeks to develop nuclear weapons.
</blockquote>
Crucially, even Qatar&#8217;s non-Islamist, Western-aligned regional Arab foes despise the disruptive, jihadist incitement that routinely blares from Al Jazeera&#8217;s airwaves. When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain instituted an embargo of Qatar in June 2017, one of the Western-aligned Arab nations&#8217; leading demands was that <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/middleeast/gulf-nations-qatar-demands/index.html">Al Jazeera be shuttered once and for all</a>. As but one small example, Al Jazeera gives Yusuf Al Qaradawi &#8212; the Egyptian-born, Doha-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood &#8212; a prominent platform. Qaradawi has engaged in on-air Holocaust denialism and incitement of suicide bombings against U.S. troops in the Middle East on Al Jazeera television. He also serves as the leading symbolic proponent of noxious Muslim Brotherhood Islamist ideology &#8212; the same ideology that serves as the intellectual progenitor and proverbial &#8220;gateway drug&#8221; for more universally recognized Islamist extremist groups such as al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and Jamaat-e-Islami. So while Muslim Brotherhood-funding Qatar and its propaganda outfit preach Islamism, the Western-aligned Arab nations recognize the Muslim Brotherhood for what it is: A terrorist group.
<div class="embed tweet">
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4 top Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain, consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist org. This challenges the allegation that this is anti-Muslim strategy. It also betrays an ignorance in differentiating between Islam as a religion and political islamist orgs <a href="https://t.co/FHacGPqL8K">https://t.co/FHacGPqL8K</a>
&#8212; Mashhour | &#1605;&#1588;&#1607;&#1608;&#1585; (@MashhourII) <a href="https://twitter.com/MashhourII/status/1123252620867579904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Qatar is a complex country. It is often deemed the wealthiest nation in the world, on a per capita basis, because it rests directly on top of the world&#8217;s largest natural gas field. Qatari emirs <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/44282/bombshell-terror-supporting-qatar-working-josh-hammer">donate prodigiously</a> to American higher education institutions to perniciously spread and indoctrinate Islamist bile, and Doha more generally runs a <a href="http://securitystudies.org/blood-money-how-qatar-bought-off-the-entire-dc-establishment/">comprehensive information warfare and venality campaign</a> that tries to influence or buy out as much of Washington, D.C. as it possibly can.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The new film &#8220;Blood Money&#8221; explains how <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Qatar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Qatar</a> funds lobbyists, media outlets &amp; think tanks to advance its agenda in DC at the expense of the U.S. &amp; our allies. It explains, through this case study, how the foreign influence game works inside the Beltway. <a href="https://t.co/SmTVIJnp81">https://t.co/SmTVIJnp81</a>
&#8212; Security Studies Group (@SecStudiesGrp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecStudiesGrp/status/1110552716940640264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Qatar often tries to hide its tracks by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/fashion/qatar-luxury-fashion-national-museum-blockade.html">sponsoring decadent, posh parties</a> and generally holding itself out publicly as a cultural influence-maker and trendsetter. Doha even engaged in a systemic attempt last year to <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/How-Qatars-Jewish-strategy-backfired-560586">woo much of the Jewish pro-Israel world</a> &#8212; alas, that proved to be a tall (though <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Muzin">not completely failed</a>) task, given that Qatar is the number one state funder of Hamas. More generally, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of which public figures flirt with the lucrative Qatari dole after exiting public office.
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Two things here.
1. Supporting lavish parties like this is precisely how the terror-supporting Qatari regime tries to mask its evils.
2. Why is <a href="https://twitter.com/seanspicer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@seanspicer</a> promoting the Qatari embassy? <a href="https://t.co/6bYmvGVwPk">https://t.co/6bYmvGVwPk</a>
&#8212; Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1123226950863130626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Simply put, the tiny nation of Qatar operates the most transformative, venomous, <a href="http://www.meforum.org/57692/examining-qatar-influence">insidious, and destructive regime</a> in the entire Sunni Muslim world. Qatar is <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/qatar-is-the-weakest-link-in-an-arab-nato/">fully isolated</a> from its Western-aligned Arab nation brethren and instead allies with Iran, which is the number one state sponsor of global jihadism, and Turkey, which is run by vehemently anti-Western/anti-Semitic strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan and has largely supplanted Saudi Arabia as the world&#8217;s number one ideological export of extremist Sunni madrasas. Alas, Al Jazeera is merely the propaganda mouthpiece for Qatar&#8217;s uniquely terrible regime.
It is time for Americans to start recognizing Al Jazeera, including its American version, as the Qatari propaganda outfit that it so transparently is. Americans must cease treating Al Jazeera as an even mildly legitimate news source &#8212; it is no such thing. And above all else, is time for Americans to lift the veil on Qatar&#8217;s two-faced, duplicitous nature &#8212; and to call out the regime for the pro-terrorism, Jew-hating, anti-Western menace that it is.

HAMMER: Al Jazeera’s Disgraceful Holocaust-Denying Video Showcases Qatari Evil For All To See

Holocaust

Judaism

As The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44282/bombshell-terror-supporting-qatar-working-josh-hammer">reported</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44524/report-qatar-paid-880-million-bribes-fifa-secure-josh-hammer">before</a>, the Muslim Brotherhood-cozy regime of the tiny peninsular state of Qatar sponsors more high-profile global Sunni jihadist terror than just about any other country in the world. The infamously <a href="https://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">pro-Islamism</a> state is, along with increasingly Islamist <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/turkey-will-spread-islamic-terrorism-like-saudia-arabia-once-did">Turkey</a>, one of the two chief contemporary bankrollers of extremist Sunni madrasas and insidious pro-Muslim Brotherhood <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">academic sinecures</a> alike. Qatar is infamous for its cozy ties with Hamas &#8212; and even with <a href="https://www.meforum.org/7609/qatar-al-qaeda-and-the-taliban-a-creepy">al-Qaeda</a>. Last month, it was revealed that Qatari officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44524/report-qatar-paid-880-million-bribes-fifa-secure-josh-hammer">bribed FIFA</a> to the tune of $880 billion in order to secure that the country would play host to the 2022 World Cup.
Via its <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/18/al-jazeera-mothers-milk-islamist-movements/">Al-Jazeera propaganda mouthpiece</a> (which also happened to be the <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/al-jazeera-promotes-documentary-glorifying-osama-bin-laden/">preferred media outlet</a> for Osama Bin Laden himself) and sundry other media/think tank outfits, such as the <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/4630/ipt-exclusive-qatar-insidious-influence-on">Qatar-funded Brookings Institution</a>, the nation of Qatar exudes disproportionate influence throughout the West. A new documentary released last week, &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFimy3QXqSc">Blood Money</a>,&#8221; shines some light on Qatar&#8217;s malignant tentacles wreaking havoc throughout the United States.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
BLOOD MONEY shows how Qatar funds lobbyists, media outlets, think tanks to advance its agenda in Washington at the expense of the US and our allies. WATCH: <a href="https://t.co/IXqhICJEZr">https://t.co/IXqhICJEZr</a>
&#8212; David Reaboi (@davereaboi) <a href="https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1110551388323500032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Now, according to a new <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/many-cnns-national-security-analysts-undisclosed-ties-oppressive-qatari-regime/">report</a> from Jordan Schachtel at Conservative Review, the Qatari regime&#8217;s influence extends deeply within a potentially unlikely media source: CNN. Accoring to Schachtel&#8217;s research, many of CNN&#8217;s leading national security &#8220;experts&#8221; have subtle, undisclosed ties to the Qatari regime:
<blockquote>
Several of the so-called national security experts at CNN that you see on television every night have direct links to the nation of Qatar, a terror-funding, Islamist enclave in the Middle East that has placed itself on the warpath against America&#8217;s most important regional allies.
But you would never know about these connections, because none of the CNN regulars disclose their financial and/or institutional ties to Qatar when they appear on the airwaves. And off air, they are also not forthcoming about their Qatar-backed connections. Even when it comes to discussing issues where they have a clear conflict of interest, such as commenting on Israeli, Saudi, or [United Arab Emirates] affairs, these CNN contributors have no issue going to bat against Qatar&#8217;s rivals&#8230;
</blockquote>
As Schachtel <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/many-cnns-national-security-analysts-undisclosed-ties-oppressive-qatari-regime/">notes</a>, CNN recurring guest Ali Soufan has a &#8220;personal relationship&#8221; with Qatari governmental leadership and &#8220;is the executive director of the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies, which is based in Doha and funded by the Qatari regime.&#8221; CNN recurring guest Mehdi Hasan, furthermore, is a &#8220;longtime presenter&#8221; for Al-Jazeera itself. Juliette Kayyem, a national security analyst for CNN, &#8220;is a board member of the the International Centre for Sport Security, a front group controlled by Qatar that is an influence operation to secure and defend Qatar&#8217;s 2022 World Cup bid.&#8221; Finally, Peter Bergen, who does not have a direct link to a Qatari state institution, nonetheless &#8220;frequently lectures at Qatari-funded institutions such as Georgetown University Qatar,&#8221; and has also &#8220;moderated a panel at the Doha Forum, which is held under the auspices of the Qatari regime.&#8221;
CNN did not respond to Schachtel when he requested a comment.

Report: Many Of CNN’s National Security ‘Experts’ Have Ties To Terror-Supporting Qatari Regime

According to a bombshell report in yesterday&#8217;s <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-qatars-secret-880m-world-cup-payments-to-fifa-p3r5rvw9x">Sunday Times</a>, the tiny but <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44282/bombshell-terror-supporting-qatar-working-josh-hammer">disproportionately wealthy and influential</a> peninsula state of Qatar bribed FIFA officials to the tune of $880 million in order to secure its bid to play host to the 2022 World Cup.
Per <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/10/qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022-damian-collins">The Guardian</a>:
<blockquote>
The allegations were first made in a book, Whatever It Takes &#8212; the Inside Story of the Fifa Way, by a whistleblower from inside Australia&#8217;s failed 2022 bid, Bonita Mersiades, in January 2018. However, the Sunday Times said it had also seen documents showing executives from al-Jazeera had signed a TV contract that included an unprecedented success fee of $100m &#8212; which would be paid to Fifa only if Qatar won the World Cup ballot in 2010.
The documents allegedly state : &#8220;In the event that the 2022 competition is awarded to the state of Qatar, al-Jazeera shall, in addition to the&#8230;rights fee, pay to Fifa into the designated account the monetary amount of $100m.&#8221; &#8230;
The Sunday Times said it also had seen a copy of a second secret television rights contract for a further $480m that was offered by Qatar three years later &#8212; which it said was now part of a bribery inquiry by Swiss police.
The allegations are likely to lead to further suspicion as to whether Qatar played fair when it bid to host the World Cup.
</blockquote>
As The Daily Wire has previously <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/44282/bombshell-terror-supporting-qatar-working-josh-hammer">reported</a>, Qatar is the foremost state sponsor of Sunni Islamism around the globe:
<blockquote>
Along with increasingly Islamist Turkey, Qatar is one of the two chief contemporary bankrollers of extremist Sunni madrasas and insidious pro-Muslim Brotherhood academic sinecures alike. Qatar is infamous for its cozy ties with Hamas &#8212; and even with al-Qaeda. &#8230;
Qatari influence in the United States is routine and hardly abnormal. As The Daily Caller reported in December, Department of Education data show that the Qatari government has given a whopping $1 billion to American universities since 2011. According to that same Department of Education data, this represents the most money given by a foreign nation to American universities over the period 2011-2016 &#8212; ahead of substantially larger countries such as the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada. The top American university recipient of Qatari government donations has been Georgetown University; accordingly, the Middle East Forum has described Georgetown University&#8217;s Middle East studies faculty as &#8220;the most intolerant, ideological, anti-Israel, and pro-Islamist in the United States.&#8221;
</blockquote>
The legitimacy of FIFA&#8217;s decision to grant the 2022 World Cup to the tiny Islamist nation has long been questioned. In 2017, The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/nov/14/fifa-bribery-corruption-trial-qatar-2022-world-cup">reported</a> that &#8220;Qatar&#8217;s [World Cup host] victory, announced in December 2010 after four rounds of knockout voting by Fifa&#8217;s 22-person executive committee in Zurich, has been plagued with allegations of bribery and misconduct.&#8221; Even earlier, in 2015, Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2015/05/29/fifa-scandal-follow-the-money-to-qatar/">reported</a> that the successful Qatari bid for the 2022 World Cup was being investigated by Swiss authorities.
Opponents of the Islamism-supporting Qatari regime have rejoiced in The Sunday Times&#8217; revelation of the regime&#8217;s venality. The <a href="https://securitystudies.org/qatar-world-cup-unraveling-sunday-times-details-bribery-and-corruption-in-fifa/">Securities Studies Group</a> tweeted on Saturday: &#8220;The files show that executives from the Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera signed a television contract making the huge offer as the bidding campaigns to host the World Cup were reaching a head.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The files show that executives from the Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera signed a television contract making the huge offer as the bidding campaigns to host the World Cup were reaching a head. <a href="https://t.co/i6gjfHYAbj">pic.twitter.com/i6gjfHYAbj</a>
&#8212; Security Studies Group (@SecStudiesGrp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecStudiesGrp/status/1104549202338766849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Ghanem Nuseibeh, Chair of a British group called &#8220;Muslims Against Anti-Semitism,&#8221; tweeted: &#8220;Today&#8217;s revelations are even more damaging to FIFA itself as they directly impact it. FIFA can&#8217;t ignore&#8230;this is a substantial increase of risk in relation to Qatar hosting FIFA World Cup 2022.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Today&#8217;s revelations are even more damaging to FIFA itself as they directly impact it. FIFA can&#8217;t ignore&#8230;this is a substantial increase of risk in relation to Qatar hosting FIFA World Cup 2022.
&#8212; Ghanem Nuseibeh (@gnuseibeh) <a href="https://twitter.com/gnuseibeh/status/1104635709724463104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Report: Qatar Paid $880 Million In Bribes To FIFA To Secure The 2022 World Cup

Soccer

Sports

Jordan Schachtel of Conservative Review has a detailed <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/news/south-carolina-becoming-home-quiet-qatari-spy-plane-project/">report</a> out today on a clandestine project that has been launched in South Carolina by the tiny, disproportionately <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/18699/qatar-influence">influential</a>, infamously pro-<a href="https://www.meforum.org/57690/ensconced-doha-islamists">Islamism</a> nation of Qatar. Along with increasingly Islamist <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/turkey-will-spread-islamic-terrorism-like-saudia-arabia-once-did">Turkey</a>, Qatar is one of the two chief contemporary bankrollers of extremist Sunni madrasas and insidious pro-Muslim Brotherhood <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">academic sinecures</a> alike. Qatar is infamous for its cozy ties with Hamas &#8212; and even with <a href="https://www.meforum.org/7609/qatar-al-qaeda-and-the-taliban-a-creepy">al-Qaeda</a>.
And now, it seems, the Qatari regime&#8217;s pernicious tentacles are finding a new home in the Palmetto State.
Schachtel reports:
<blockquote>
The Qatar-run Barzan Holdings was launched March 12, 2018, intended to act as &#8220;a commercial gateway for the defense industry in Qatar.&#8221; One week later, a subsidiary company, Barzan Aeronautical, was incorporated in South Carolina. The aircraft program appears to be in the very early stages of development. Barzan Aeronautical&#8217;s website lists a target launch date of May 2019. &#8230;
In interviews, Qatari officials have stressed that the one-year-old Barzan Holdings project is a top-priority project for advancing Qatar&#8217;s defense goals. In November, the ruler of Qatar himself paid a visit to the Barzan research and development center.
Information on the nature of the mission of Barzan Aeronautical first surfaced in Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings last year through the Department of Justice. A high-powered K Street law firm, Ott, Bielitzki &amp; O&#8217;Neill PLLC, defined the Barzan Aeronautical mission as a project dedicated to &#8220;development and production of surveillance aircraft&#8221; for Qatar. Just a couple of weeks ago (without any media coverage), Barzan Aeronautical submitted its own FARA filing, describing its mission as aiding &#8220;in procurement / development of airborne ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] systems for the foreign principal,&#8221; which is the state of Qatar.
</blockquote>
It therefore appears that the world&#8217;s leading exporter of militant Sunni Islamism is now heavily invested in the &#8220;development and production of surveillance aircraft&#8221; in the state of South Carolina.
As Schachtel notes, the Qatari regime&#8217;s ties with various South Carolina politicians run quite deep. A very top donor to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster&#8217;s recent successful gubernatorial campaign was Imaad Zuberi, who is a lobbyist representing Qatar Investment Authority. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has also met face-to-face with Zuberi &#8220;to discuss potential investments in real estate, infrastructure and other business sectors,&#8221; <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/business/qatar-s-government-backed-finance-group-looking-to-invest-in/article_b412f1da-084d-11e8-896c-4b16f7fa44d5.html">reported</a> The Post and Courier of Charleston in February 2018.
Qatari influence in the United States is routine and hardly abnormal. As The Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/qatar-georgetown-texas-university/">reported</a> in December, Department of Education data show that the Qatari government has given a whopping $1 billion to American universities since 2011. According to that same Department of Education data, this represents the most money given by a foreign nation to American universities over the period 2011-2016 &#8212; ahead of substantially larger countries such as the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada. The top American university recipient of Qatari government donations has been Georgetown University; accordingly, the Middle East Forum has <a href="https://www.meforum.org/7071/middle-east-studies-faculty-at-georgetown">described</a> Georgetown University&#8217;s Middle East studies faculty as &#8220;the most intolerant, ideological, anti-Israel, and pro-Islamist in the United States.&#8221;

Bombshell: Terror-Supporting Qatar Is Working On A Secretive Military Project In South Carolina

Military

South Carolina

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has already been marred by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/27/thousands-qatar-world-cup-workers-life-threatening-heat">controversy</a>, as thousands of native workers readying the country to become the epicenter of the global soccer economy are grossly mistreated and often unpaid. Add to that one ambitious and self-serving rabbi from the Hamptons, and things get messier.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, formerly of the Hampton Synagogue, is busy promoting his next project to unite Jews with the Gulf States: Bringing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-26/new-york-hot-dog-rabbi-to-make-qatar-kosher-at-soccer-world-cup">kosher hot dogs</a> and sauerkraut to Qatar for the &#8220;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-26/new-york-hot-dog-rabbi-to-make-qatar-kosher-at-soccer-world-cup">thousands</a>&#8221; of Israelis and Jews expected to travel to one of the world&#8217;s most vehemently <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-10-most-anti-semitic-countries/">anti-Semitic</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2013/06/08/democracy-thats-for-other-arabs">anti-democratic</a> nations. Schneier regularly shares photos and sweet messaging on his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/RabbiMSchneier/posts/">social media</a> pages on the progress of his hot dog mission.
Schneier is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-26/new-york-hot-dog-rabbi-to-make-qatar-kosher-at-soccer-world-cup">liaising</a> with Hassan al-Thawadi and Qatar&#8217;s Supreme Committee on Delivery and Legacy to supply the kosher food. On the Supreme Committee <a href="https://sc.qa/en/about/message-from-managing-director">sits</a> Managing Director Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, who has a troubled ethical past himself. The Sheikh <a href="http://de-tenants.org/QatariEliteLinkedToIcelandicMarketManipulationPart2LoanReinvestmentAndGovtInvestigation.html">narrowly</a> avoided prison time for investor fraud and was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/broidy-s-expanded-hack-allegations-fault-ex-spy-emir-s-brother">recently sued</a> by Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy for cyber warfare attacks &#8212; egregious, even before considering that the Al Thani family has ruled Qatar despotically for generations. Sheikh Mohammed&#8217;s father, Hamad al Thani, implemented a <a href="https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/backtracking-on-qatar/">series</a> of anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist policies still in place under the rule of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Sheikh Mohammed&#8217;s brother. These include refusing to recognize Israel&#8217;s sovereignty, funneling <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/No-Holds-Barred-Qatar-flashes-cash-at-Gaza-while-Hamas-continues-its-brutality-571776">billions</a> of dollars to Hamas and providing a safe haven for Hamas terrorists. Other members of the Al Thani family have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/world/threats-responses-terror-network-intelligence-break-led-us-tie-envoy-killing.html">donated</a> millions to al-Qaeda terrorists, as well as creating safe houses and doling out passports to sundry other Islamist terrorists.
And to add to the evident moral dilemma presented by collaborating with Qatari leadership is a more pragmatic fault with Schneier&#8217;s plan for hot-dog peace. Qatar does <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-26/new-york-hot-dog-rabbi-to-make-qatar-kosher-at-soccer-world-cup">not</a> permit Israelis to enter the country, a longstanding tradition making Schneier&#8217;s entire mission nearly impossible. Schneier claims that this policy will be vacated for the duration of the World Cup, although Qatari officials have been mute on the subject. But even if the Israeli passport ban were to be temporarily lifted, should this be hailed as a bridge-building triumph for Schneier? Qatar would, in all likelihood, snap back the policy the day following the conclusion of the tournament and go on with old habits. Schneier&#8217;s supposed &#8220;achievements&#8221; have not further advanced democratic causes or tolerance in Qatar; rather, they have exclusively served to benefit the country&#8217;s economic standing through Israeli tourism.
Coupled with the unresolved passport dilemma is the physical threat posed by Jews and Israelis entering Qatar; indeed, the lifting of a multi-generational passport ban on Israelis is not as simple as Schneier lets on. The anti-Jewish sentiment harbored institutionally in Qatar cannot amazingly disappear, even for a soccer tournament, and should Israelis actually attend the World Cup they will inevitably encounter profound persecution on the grounds of their nationality or religion. It wouldn&#8217;t be past the Qatari government to arbitrarily and inhumanely degrade Israelis, yet Schneier puts forth a fantasy of a Qatari-Israeli safe space during the World Cup &#8212; a naive goal for someone with his alleged breadth of knowledge on the Gulf states.
On the whole, Schneier&#8217;s actions aren&#8217;t just immoral to the Jewish people &#8212; they are also undemocratic and un-American. He&#8217;s consorted with top officials in a nation with values starkly in contrast to our own. Schneier, in his capacity as a figurehead not just for the Jewish community but as a high-profile American citizen, must carefully consider his priorities. He must decide whether he is so concerned with remaining relevant politically so as to sacrifice basic human values of equality and respect, or whether he will condemn and dissociate from the brutish Qatari leadership.

Noah Phillips is the founder of <a href="https://www.jexaminer.com">The Jewish Examiner</a>.

PHILLIPS: Rabbi Marc Schneier Is The Latest American Jew To Be Ensnared By The Qatari Regime

A new report asserts that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, may have been a foreign agent working for the government of Qatar in order to change U.S. policy against Saudi Arabia and in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Writing in <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/27/bombshell-khashoggi-foreign-governments-influence-agent/">The Federalist</a>, Jim Hanson, president of Security Studies Group and a former member of U.S. Special Forces, notes that the Post admitted in an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jamal-khashoggis-final-months-an-exile-in-the-long-shadow-of-saudi-arabia/2018/12/21/d6fc68c2-0476-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html?utm_term=.673fb75e1f77">article</a> on December 21 that an executive at Qatar Foundation International worked with Khashoggi to influence Khashoggi&#8217;s columns so they aggressively targeted the Saudi government. The Post wrote, &#8220;Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post, proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government.&#8221; Hanson notes, &#8220;The Qatar Foundation denies they were paying him to produce the anti-Saudi material.&#8221;
But then Hanson ups the ante considerably as to Khashoggi&#8217;s possible status as a foreign agent, writing:
<blockquote>
But during Security Studies Group research for our report on the information operation after his death, we heard from reliable sources familiar with the investigation that documents showing wire transfers from Qatar were found in his apartment in Turkey. They were immediately put out of reach by Turkish security services, so they did not show the collusion between Khashoggi, Qatar, and Turkey prior to his death. We <a href="https://securitystudies.org/jamal-khashoggi-and-qatar-in-the-echo-chamber/">have published</a> a new, unredacted set of findings about the case. It is damning to Qatar, Turkey, and the Washington Post. Khashoggi may have been operating in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act by doing this on behalf of Qatar.
</blockquote>
Hanson points out Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by many Gulf nations; members of Congress have <a href="https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2018/07/11/desantis-hearing-establishes-the-muslim-brotherhood-must-be-designated-as-a-terrorist-organization-the-sooner-the-better/">pushed </a>for naming the group a terrorist organization.
Hanson adds that Turkey and Qatar drove the narrative after the killing of Khashoggi and fed their chosen information to &#8220;major Western English-language journalist outlets.&#8221;
Hanson points out that Qatar is currently flirting more seriously with Russia, Iran, and Turkey, which is inimical to American interests; that Qatar has <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2018/09/30/EXCLUSIVE-Why-the-fight-against-Qatar-s-US-cyber-attacks-is-not-over-yet.html">hacked into the personal information</a> of Americans; that Qatar is friendly with extremist groups including the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In January 2017, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies <a href="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/defenddemocracy/uploads/documents/11717_Weinberg_Qatar_Report.pdf">delineated</a> Qatar&#8217;s support for terrorist groups:
<blockquote>
The State Department revealed in its 2015 Country Reports on Terrorism that &#8220;entities and individuals within Qatar continue to serve as a source of financial support for terrorist and violent extremist groups, particularly regional al-Qa&#8217;ida affiliates such as the Nusrah Front.&#8221; Qatar has historically also been described by the U.S. as a site for the private financing of other terrorist groups besides Nusra. Al-Qaeda&#8217;s senior leadership is alleged by Washington to have received support from Qatar- based donors, as is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, al-Qaeda operatives in Iran, and al-Qaeda in Iraq, the forerunner to IS.
According to Treasury, the Islamic State&#8217;s &#8220;Amir of suicide bombers&#8221; made arrangements &#8220;to receive approximately $2 million from a Qatar-based ISIL facilitator,&#8221; who enlisted his &#8220;assistance with fundraising efforts in Qatar.&#8221; There is no sign Qatar ever acted against this unnamed financier. Qatar hosts Hamas moneymen under U.S. counterterrorism sanctions and has even directly financed the group. The U.S. has also reported the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba having fundraised in Qatar.
</blockquote>
A previous version of this story identified Jamil Khashoggi as a reporter for The Washington Post. He was a columnist.

EXPLOSIVE: Report Says WaPo Columnist Killed In Saudi Consulate May Have Been Foreign Agent

Jamal Khashoggi

Washington Post

A Saudi official praised Israel for allowing its Muslim population to travel to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, unlike some Muslim-majority countries, <a href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/182459-180823-saudi-official-israel-does-not-ban-muslims-from-hajj-other-countries-do">i24NEWS reports</a>.
While the minister of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance Sheikh Abdullatif Bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh, did not specify which country he was referring to, it is likely he is referring to Qatar, which reportedly claimed last week that its citizens could not register for the pilgrimage, which is mandatory for Muslims to carry out at least once in their life if they have the means.
&#8220;The state of Israel, from what we know of it, has not banned Muslim pilgrims from coming to the Kingdom to take part in their religious obligation, however one of the countries, as we know or have been told, have banned pilgrims from traveling,&#8221; Al-Sheikh said.
Despite a government official telling AFP that &#8220;registration of pilgrims from the State of Qatar remains closed and residents of Qatar cannot be granted visas as there are no diplomatic missions,&#8221; Saudi authorities reportedly deny blocking Qatari pilgrims and claim they are welcome.
A tweet of the video of the rare praise of Israel by Saudi Arabia &#8212; which still does not officially recognize Israel &#8212; was responded to by Israel&#8217;s Arabic account stating, &#8220;Thank God, Israel facilitated for more than 4,000 Muslim citizens to head to the holy places to complete the Hajj pilgrimage.&#8221; 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#1575;&#1604;&#1581;&#1605;&#1583; &#1604;&#1604;&#1607; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#&#1573;&#1587;&#1585;&#1575;&#1574;&#1610;&#1604;</a> &#1587;&#1607;&#1604;&#1578; &#1576;&#1608;&#1580;&#1607; &#1575;&#1603;&#1579;&#1585; &#1605;&#1606; 4000 &#1605;&#1606; &#1575;&#1604;&#1605;&#1608;&#1575;&#1591;&#1606;&#1610;&#1606; &#1575;&#1604;&#1605;&#1587;&#1604;&#1605;&#1610;&#1606; &#1601;&#1610; &#1575;&#1604;&#1576;&#1604;&#1575;&#1583; &#1575;&#1604;&#1609; &#1575;&#1604;&#1578;&#1608;&#1580;&#1607; &#1575;&#1604;&#1609; &#1575;&#1604;&#1583;&#1610;&#1575;&#1585; &#1575;&#1604;&#1581;&#1580;&#1575;&#1586;&#1610;&#1577; &#1575;&#1604;&#1605;&#1602;&#1583;&#1587;&#1577; &#1604;&#1571;&#1583;&#1575;&#1569; &#1601;&#1585;&#1610;&#1590;&#1577; &#1575;&#1604;&#1581;&#1580; <a href="https://t.co/G1deLhHFMV">https://t.co/G1deLhHFMV</a>
&#8212; &#1573;&#1587;&#1585;&#1575;&#1574;&#1610;&#1604; &#1576;&#1575;&#1604;&#1593;&#1585;&#1576;&#1610;&#1577; (@IsraelArabic) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelArabic/status/1031876086764847104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The compliment comes after slight improvements to Saudi-Israeli relations, including Crown Prince <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/28983/new-saudi-prince-acknowledges-israels-right-exist-hank-berrien">Mohammed bin Salman acknowledging Israel&#8217;s right to exist</a> while year-long tensions with Qatar have resulted in Saudi Arabia <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/32401/saudi-arabia-plans-build-canals-separate-qatar-kassy-dillon">threatening to physically separate Qatar</a> from Saudi Arabia by digging a canal.

Saudi Official Praises Israel For Allowing Muslim Citizens To Perform Hajj While Other Countries Don’t

Last year, Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting off relations with Qatar, but now, Saudi Arabia is literally cutting Qatar off, making it into an island.
Qatar is a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf and only shares a land border with Saudi Arabia.
<a href="https://www.businessinsider.co.za/saudi-arabia-wants-to-turn-qatar-into-an-island-2018-6">According to Business Insider</a>, five companies are currently bidding to build a canal along Saudi Arabia&#8217;s and Qatar&#8217;s 61 km border. The canal will be named the &#8220;Salwa Channel&#8221; and the Saudis hope it will be completed within a year.
The tensions began last year after Saudi Arabia began its boycott of Qatar, citing Qatar&#8217;s support of terrorist organizations and its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17184/5-things-you-need-know-about-qatar-mess-middle-joshua-yasmeh">questionable loyalties regarding Iran.</a>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Saudi Arabia is accepting bids until June 25 for plan to dig a maritime canal along the kingdom&#8217;s border with Qatar &#8212; Makkah newspaper<a href="https://t.co/ck85QJlgMh">https</a><a href="https://t.co/ck85QJlgMh">://t.co/ck85QJlgMh</a> <a href="https://t.co/UGllBN4x9l">pic.twitter.com/UGllBN4x9l</a>
&#8212; Mohamad Bazzi (@BazziNYU) <a href="https://twitter.com/BazziNYU/status/1008764359093444608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/06/21/saudi-media-says-kingdom-could-turn-qatar-its-neighbor-and-rival-into-an-island/?utm_term=.f42bf1e3ecc7">According to The Washington Post</a>, state-owned media has reported on the project; two months ago, an online Saudi newspaper reported that the plans were still waiting approval from the Saudi government. The same outlet also claims the canal is expected to be big enough to allow ships to pass, stretching 650 feet in width and 130 feet in depth.
The cost has been projected at $745 million and would take place on the Saudi side of the border, .6 miles from Qatar.
The Saudi Arabian government has yet to make a public confirmation of the proposed plan.

Saudi Arabia Plans to Build Canals to Separate Qatar, Make It An Island

Time is up for &#8220;Clock Boy&#8221; Ahmed Mohamed and his father Mohamed&#8217;s desperate, attention-seeking, discrimination lawsuit against the city of Irving, Texas, and its school district.
On Tuesday, United States District Judge Sam Lindsay <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/irving/2018/03/14/clockboy-ahmed-mohamed-lawsuit-irving-isd-city-dismissed" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dismissed</a> the Mohameds&#8217; lawsuit &#8220;with prejudice,&#8221; meaning the case is over and done with.
Not 10 months ago, in May 2017, Judge Lindsay dismissed a similar discrimination suit by the family. 
He ruled that no Irving city or school official &#8220;intentionally discriminated against A.M. based on his race or religion&#8221; when, in September 2015, officials questioned and arrested Ahmed for bringing to school what looked like a bomb.
But at the time of that ruling the judge left the door open to the Mohameds amending and refiling their lawsuit, which they did a few days later.
On September 14, 2015, Ahmed, then 14, brought a reassembled digital clock to school to show his teachers.
But the clock looked more like a bomb. So his teacher, acting as any responsible teacher would when confronted with something that looks like a bomb, confiscated it and reported the incident to the school&#8217;s principal, who decided the potential of a threat was plausible enough to call the police. 
When police came to the school, they questioned Ahmed and were able to determine that the device was not a bomb. But they arrested him under the suspicion that it may have been a &#8220;hoax bomb,&#8221; and brought him to the police station so as to be able to further clarify the boy&#8217;s intentions. 
Police later released Ahmed to his parents, and did not charge him, determining that he had no malicious intent.
Ahmed became an overnight cause célèbre among progressives, who pointed to the school&#8217;s reaction to Ahmed&#8217;s clock that looked like a bomb as an example of racism and Islamophobia. 
President Obama <a href="https://twitter.com/potus44/status/644193755814342656?lang=en">tweeted</a>, &#8220;Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?&#8221; Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, Google, and Twitter also extended their support.
Four days after the incident, Ahmed&#8217;s father said his son would be withdrawing from the school. The next month the family moved to Qatar, where Ahmed reportedly received an education scholarship from the Qatar Foundation.
In November 2015, Ahmed&#8217;s family threatened Irving and the school district with a lawsuit if they did not pay the laughable sum of $15 million &#8212; plus offer a public apology. Irving refused.
The following year the Mohameds filed multiple lawsuits. One was the discrimination against Irving and the school district, which called for unspecified damages. 
Judge Lindsay <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/irving/2017/05/19/judge-dismisses-clock-boy-ahmed-mohameds-suit-irving-isd">dismissed</a> it, explaining that Principal Daniel Cummings was &#8220;responsible for the safety of students and others on campus&#8221; and made a reasonable decision given the limited information he had available, and the perceived risk of the device actually being a bomb.
The other lawsuit was a defamation suit against several media outlets and commentators, including Ben Shapiro and Glenn Beck. That was quickly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/13100/implosion-clock-boy-lawsuit-against-shapiro-ben-shapiro">thrown out</a> as well, with legal fees and court costs awarded to the defendants.
Yesterday&#8217;s one-paragraph dismissal by Judge Lindsay brings Clock Boy&#8217;s record in court to 0-3. 
<div> </div>

GO AWAY: Federal Judge Again Dismisses &#8216;Clock Boy&#8217; Ahmed Mohamed&#8217;s Cuckoo Discrimination Lawsuit.

Ahmed Mohamed

Clock Boy

Islam

Muslims

Texas

Saudi Arabia&#8217;s diplomatic war with Qatar is spiraling out of control. After cutting ties with Doha, the Saudis issued several demands to bring the Qataris back into the Sunni fold. One of the chief demands was scaling back friendly relations with Shia powerhouse Iran, Saudi Arabia&#8217;s primary geopolitical rival. Now, the Qataris are firing back with a list of their own demands, a move that has Riyadh seeing red.
Most notably, the Saudis are taking issue with Qatar&#8217;s request to &#8220;internationalize&#8221; Islamic holy sites peppered throughout the Saudi kingdom.
&#8220;Qatar&#8217;s request to internationalize the holy sites is an aggressive act and a declaration of war against the kingdom,&#8221; Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/07/30/Saudi-Arabia-rejects-Qatar-s-attempts-to-politicize-pilgrimage-.html">told</a> Al-Arabiya Sunday. &#8220;We reserve the right to respond to any party working in the field of internationalization of the holy sites.&#8221;
The foreign minister added that the kingdom is making a concerted effort to welcome all Muslim religious pilgrims, including those from Qatar.
&#8220;Saudi Arabia rejects Qatar&#8217;s attempt to politicize the arrival of Qatari pilgrims into the kingdom,&#8221; he stressed. &#8220;The kingdom&#8217;s history is clear in facilitating the arrival of pilgrims. &#8230; Saudi Arabia welcomes the Qataris to perform Hajj like the rest of the pilgrims.&#8221;
Qatar&#8217;s call to &#8220;internationalize&#8221; holy sites echoes Iran&#8217;s decades-old battle cry to strip the Two Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina &#8212; exclusively entrusted to the Saudi Arabian King &#8212; away from exclusive Saudi control.
The fact that the honorific titles &#8220;Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries&#8221; and &#8220;Protector of the Two Holy Cities&#8221; have been bestowed on the Saudi monarch is evidence enough of just how much Iran&#8217;s demands cut to the heart of the monarchy&#8217;s sense of sovereignty.
For the Saudis, the holy shrines are sacred cows, or better yet, cash cows. In addition to the loads of money the Saudis collect from pilgrimages and religious tourism, control of the sites grants the kingdom priceless prestige within the Islamic world.
Every devout Muslim must try to make the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina at some point in his/her lifetime as the Hajj is one of Islam&#8217;s five pillars of faith. As long as Saudi Arabia holds onto to these sites, it will be seen as holding the keys to the gateway of Allah.

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