How Arab Regimes Are Infiltrating the West
And why the Americans have not pushed Qatar to sway Hamas to release the remaining 130 hostages, six of whom are American citizens.
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The United States is the most powerful country in the world, while Qatar is a tiny Middle Eastern desert state with less than half a million citizens.
Why, then, have the Americans been unable to successfully convince Qatar to sway Hamas to release the remaining 130 hostages, six of whom are American citizens?
Despite the Qataris billing themselves as the Middle East’s “honest broker,”1 we do not need to spend too much time demonstrating that Qatar is a suspect country which bribed its way to hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and has been accused of practicing modern-day slavery.
Money is money, and if the Qataris can pay off FIFA officials to bring the world’s biggest sporting event to their quasi-country, who else might they be capable of financially influencing?
First, let’s take a look at a few facts:
Qatar is the top foreign donor to U.S. universities, “gifting” nearly $4 billion since 2001 — much of which was illegally undisclosed — in addition to writing checks to top U.S. high schools, lobbying groups, politicians, journalists, businesses, public relations firms, and Washington, D.C.’s most influential think tanks, which produce policy papers, host forums, and organize private briefings for U.S. senior government officials that typically align with donors’ agendas.
For example, in 2013 Qatar agreed to make a $14.8-million, four-year donation to the Brookings Institution, which has helped fund a Brookings affiliate in Qatar and a project on United States relations with the Islamic world.
“If a member of Congress is using the Brookings reports, they should be aware — they are not getting the full story. They may not be getting a false story, but they are not getting the full story,” said Saleem Ali, who served as a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar and who said he had been told during his job interview that he could not take positions critical of the Qatari government in papers.2
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been especially aggressive in their giving to think tanks, with Qatar arguing that Muslim Brotherhood-style political Islam is the Arab world’s best hope for democracy. Yeah, and Hamas terrorists are merely “freedom fighters.” Please tell us more.
Qatar also hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East, in large part because the Qataris agreed to invest $1 billion to help the Americans build it in 1996 — a deal inked by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton. The Saudis and Emiratis have since offered to move the American military base to their countries, but two years ago, U.S. President Joe Biden mysteriously announced that Qatar would be designated a “major non-NATO ally,” a classification shared by a select few countries, including Israel.
And it was Barack Obama’s U.S. presidency that facilitated Qatar’s rise to prominence. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State shifted the priorities in America’s Middle East policy, disassociating themselves from their traditional ally in Saudi Arabia for a new anchor in this region. They stayed their choice on Qatar.
Why? Well, foreign actors have given millions of dollars to U.S. presidents. But disclosure of these contributions — some of which were made while the presidents were still in office — only came after the fact.
For example, the William J. Clinton Library and Museum provided a list of its top 150 donors to congressional investigators during the Rich scandal in early 2001. The identities of other donors — including the governments of Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar — emerged in media reports only after the Clintons left the White House.
The Clinton Foundation also accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was serving as the U.S. Secretary of State, without informing the State Department. Asked whether Qatar was funding a specific program at the foundation, a foundation spokesman said the country supported the organization’s “overall humanitarian work” — even though the Qataris are one of the worst violators of human rights.3
During Obama’s presidency, he coddled and courted Qatar, the funder of ISIS and Hamas, modern nihilistic death cults dedicated to the killing of Christians, Gays, and Jews.
Starting circa 2013, Obama and his second secretary of state, John Kerry, spent 18 months pushing relentlessly for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. They came up empty-handed and claimed that there was no trust, despite Obama being presented with a golden opportunity. For the first time, an Israel-Egypt-Saudi-Palestinian Authority nexus emerged in a joint call to eradicate the terror group.
“We had a meeting of interests that should have opened a window of opportunity to push Obama’s peace plan forward and confirm his Nobel Peace Prize awarded in utero,” wrote columnist Michael Eisenberg. “When I heard that Israel, Egypt, Palestinians, and Saudis were in lockstep, I expected Obama to pick up the phone and work a package deal where he would back the eradication of Hamas, disarmament of Gaza, an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal with normalization and investment by the Saudis and other Arab countries. That would have been logical.”4
“But Obama did not push that and instead got behind Hamas’ right to exist and to keep its arsenal intact,” added Eisenberg. “More curiously, he sent Kerry off to cavort with the Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers in Paris. This befuddled me and incensed all Israeli ministers, the Egyptians, and the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.”
After all, Obama was a very young second-term president. He was not wealthy and he “needed a job” for the next 30 to 40 years following his presidential tenure, similar to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Although he denies its scope and bias, Carter has been significantly funded by Arab countries. You will also recall the Carter was the one who pushed for Hamas’ inclusion in the Gaza elections.
Would it shock you to find out that the funders of Obama’s Presidential Library, his early consulting customers, and the funders for his institute were the wealthy, oil-rich Qataris? They could also give him a media platform called Al Jazeera to continue pontificating from teleprompters.
The Qataris have endless money, not to mention global aspirations. Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Here is an interesting nugget from the Washington Post in 2015:
“Qatar’s real estate investment arm decided in 2010 to pump $650 million into City Center, becoming the main owner of the $1 billion project on the site of the District’s old convention center in Northwest Washington, D.C.”
“Qatar had never invested in D.C. real estate before. And its spending spree didn’t stop there. The Qataris also invested in Chicago, where their Al Faisal Group last year bought the Radisson Blu Aqua hotel.”
“This year (2015), Qatar bought Current TV for $500 million, hired 800 journalists, and launched Al Jazeera America, vastly expanding the TV news operation’s presence in the United States.”5
Note the two areas Qatar invested: Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Obama’s de facto hometown where he was a senator. And Current TV was owned by Al Gore, who served as Bill Clinton’s vice president.
“Somewhat cynically but not altogether surprisingly,” wrote Eisenberg, “Obama may be doing the Qatari’s bidding as they will be buttering his bread for years to come.”
Hence why Hillary Clinton did not challenge Obama on the ISIS and Hamas funding source in Qatar.
Then there is Joe Biden, who was Obama’s vice president during the latter’s two terms in office. To think that Biden would be crystal clean from Qatari financial influence is wishful thinking at best. Could the Qataris be funding Biden’s re-election campaign? If so many of those billions of dollars that the Qataris donated to U.S. universities went undisclosed, why would Biden’s re-election campaign not follow a similar practice?
Last year, for instance, French investigators scrutinized the activities and compensation of advertising executive François de La Brosse, who received payments from Qatar several years after his work for the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Let’s also recall the purchase of football club Paris Saint-Germain by the Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, when Sarkozy was president, and by the hypothesis of a corrupt deal sealed the previous year, during a lunch organized at the Elysée Palace attended by Sarkozy and the current Emir of Qatar, Tamim Al Thani.6
This past December, the European Union unveiled a proposal to curb political interference by foreign governments, put forward ahead of EU elections happening in June of this year, amid concerns that outside actors such as Russia may attempt to interfere.7
The package needs approval from EU countries and the European Parliament, which is embroiled in a foreign influence scandal that has been dubbed “Qatargate.” Belgian authorities have been investigating alleged bribes said to have been paid by Qatar and Morocco in an attempt to steer some of its deliberations.
This past January, the U.S. quietly reached an agreement that extends its military presence at the sprawling base in Qatar for another 10 years. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited the base in December and thanked the Qataris for their increased spending on the base.8
Meanwhile, Qatar paraded a deal it brokered about a month ago to have much-needed medicine sent to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Turns out, the medicine was never delivered to them. But now, the Qataris (who tried to profit off this scam by using it as “good PR”) claim that the medicine was finally delivered — a month after the deal, and only after the IDF found that this much-needed medicine did not reach the hostages.
“The fact is that it’s not just Hamas holding the hostages,” wrote Seth Frantzman, a Middle East security analyst. “From the very beginning, the real culprit behind October 7th is not in Gaza, but abroad. October 7th was planned to benefit not Gaza or Israel, which are the main victims, but rather for the benefit and profit of those who host Hamas.”9
During the last major war between Israel and Hamas in 2014, the Obama administration pressed for Qatar to remain a chief broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
“We need countries that have leverage over the leaders of Hamas to help put a ceasefire in place,” wrote Julia Frifield, at the time an assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the U.S. State Department. “Qatar may be able to play that role as it has done in the past.”10
But if we follow the money, Qatar may not need to use its leverage over Hamas — whether to free the remaining hostages or for any other purpose — because the Biden administration could very well be financially incentivized to hold back whatever leverage it has over Qatar.
“Qatar Is the Mideast’s Honest Broker.” The Wall Street Journal.
“Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks.” The New York Times.
“Fact Check: Did the Clinton Foundation accept unauthorized money from Qatar?” The Florida Times-Union.
“Again, “Follow the Money.” Is Obama Following it to Qatar?” Medium.
“Qatar is suddenly investing heavily in the U.S., bankrolling D.C.’s City Center, other projects.” The Washington Post.
“Investigators look into Sarkozy PR adviser from 2007 presidential campaign.” Le Monde.
“EU Looks To Crack Down On Foreign Interference Ahead Of Elections.” Barron’s.
“US quietly reaches agreement with Qatar to keep operating largest military base in Middle East.” CNN.
Seth Frantzman on X
“Obama Admin Wants Hamas Ally Qatar to Remain Chief Broker in Peace Process.” The Washington Free Beacon.
Why couldn't the Americans convince Qatar to convince Hamas?
Because Qatar was there for a completely different purpose.
The Americans may have thought that Qatar, as a mediator, would look for compromises and ways out of difficult situations. Yes, this is how a mediator who is interested in solving problems and ending the conflict should act.
But who told you that Qatar is interested in ending the conflict? Qatar is there only to promote Hamas' demands and to ensure that Hamas's conditions are met and Israel's are not.
What motivates Qatar to look for a way out? What motivates Qatar to end the conflict? Absolutely nothing.
Moreover, the longer the negotiations drag on, the more pressure is put on Israel and those conditions that no one even dared to talk about three months ago are already being discussed by the parties.
Qatar is a Trojan horse in negotiations, trusted by Hamas, whose goal is to ensure that all Hamas conditions are met. Technically, it is the political wing of Hamas, but it is not a mediator.
Therefore, the American delegation will not be able to convince Qatar of anything that Qatar does not want.
Thanks for following the money, Joshua. Yet another shonda, several of them, in fact.