Qatar invested more than $65 million over the past 17 years in an effort to influence the education system in the US against Israel, according to a new report released on Wednesday by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, which is causing an uproar in Washington and prompting calls for a federal investigation.
According to the ISGAP report, the funds were funneled through Qatar Foundation International, which worked with schools, universities, teacher-training programs, and national education networks across the US.
The report claims that the foundation’s activities went far beyond promoting Arabic-language studies and became a broad influence mechanism over educational content, curricula, and political narratives related to the Middle East and Israel.
ISGAP called for a full federal investigation into the foundation’s activities and its ties with American educational institutions. The institute’s CEO, Charles Asher Small, said that “this is not a series of isolated educational programs,” but rather an organized and ongoing system of foreign influence.
Trump calls for Middle East countries to join Abraham Accords
Last Monday, the US President Donald Trump spoke with leaders from the Middle East and the Muslim world, including the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The president clarified that “It should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum, simultaneously sign onto the Abraham Accords.”
According to him, the countries that should join the accords are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain.