Qatar funds US universities and think-tanks to cover up its terror policy
According to a recent research that was conducted by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), most of the U.S. universities including Yale, Harvard, Cornell, and Georgetown are accepting large donations from foreign governments, in particular from Qatar. “There is nothing illegal about a university accepting a grant from a foreign regime — even from a brutal, two-faced, terror-sponsoring dictatorship like Qatar. But when a university hides the fact that it is receiving such money, there’s a problem. Parents who pay tuition have a right to know if the university to whom they have entrusted their children’s education is being influenced by hostile foreign parties”. Writes Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey and father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
The ISGAP research project ‘Follow the Money’, has for more than seven years assessed foreign funding of leading American universities by Qatar its foundations and affiliated corporations. The research project led by Dr. Charles Asher Small and Dr. Glen Feder, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States, and a top investigative accountant Michael Bass, found that Federal reporting requirements and procedures have been inadequate at keeping track of funding coming in from abroad. ISGAP reported that from 1986 to 2018, Qatar donated $4,955,969,671 to various institutions, but only $1,982,267,512 was properly reported. The research pointed out that Qatar is funding the U.S. universities to boost its image in the U.S. and to support its foreign agendas in the region included the Palestinian case, its involvement in the Arab crisis and to cover its support to terrorist organizations as well.
“Given our lack of resources, if we can find approximately three billion dollars that is unaccounted for, imagine what is really going on,” said Charles Small when presenting the study at the US Department of Justice. “These ideologies are infiltrating into US universities. Funds are coming from the campuses in Doha into the United States proper. This is an extraordinary finding. We believe that money that this research project discovered is the tip of an iceberg. We call for a proper investigation of American universities and the funders of hate that are permeating the most precious institution in our democracy: our education system”. It’s clear that professors whose salaries, fellowships, or think tanks are funded in part by Qatar will be hesitant to criticize the Qataris. Many say a sort of taboo has developed against needlessly antagonizing Qatar by criticizing the emir or by taking policy positions that the Government consider red lines, for fear of upsetting a current donor or alienating a future donor. Even the money itself has become a taboo subject.
However, there is more to such funding than cultivating political influence. The ISGAP research has found a correlation between the funding of universities by Qatar and with the presence of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and a deteriorating environment that fosters an antisemitic and aggressive atmosphere. “SJP, which is one of the key organizers of the annual Israel Apartheid Week event on college campuses across the country, has been described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as an organization whose members regularly demonize Jewish students who identify as Zionists or proud supporters of the State of Israel and insist that one cannot be a good Jew while still being a Zionist”. Affirms the American research.
“When certain Jewish leaders visited and praised Qatar two years ago, some of us sounded a sceptical note. We doubted that such a vicious regime would suddenly stop funding terrorists just because a few Jewish officials visited”, noted Stephen M. Flatow on ‘Israel News’, adding that “who ask to be respected as leaders of the Jewish community must be accountable, and they must be willing to admit their errors especially when their error aided a regime that has been victimizing our own sons and daughters”. With the bulk of all Middle Eastern donations emanating from Qatari donors, and the Qatar Foundation accounting for virtually all of the donations from Qatar to US universities and think thanks, these funds significantly impact attitudes, antisemitic culture and BDS activities. The organization affirms the importance to understand the players behind the funding and their ideology. Qatar has long been an important source of funds for the Hamas Palestinian terror organization and has forged relationships with Islamist groups from the Muslim Brotherhood to the Taliban, playing a key rule to destabilize North Africa and Middle East.
