A conference hosted on June 11 in the American capital by the Arab Center Washington, D.C., a think tank funded by Qatar and founded in Doha, serves as a case study in the Gulf state’s “soft power strategy” in the United States.
Lenny Ben-David, a research and diplomacy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs who previously served for 25 years at AIPAC and as a senior Israeli diplomat in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, published a report days before the conference, revealing that the Arab Center Washington DC is affiliated with the Qatari Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
The report described both organizations as “cornerstones of the Qatari royal enterprises, led and funded by the Qatar Foundation.”
The June 11 conference, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., focused on what it termed “Israel’s Destruction of Gaza” and promoted accusations of “genocide” against the Jewish state.
While the event itself caused few ripples in the mainstream media, Ben-David warned in an interview with JNS on June 12 that it highlights a deeper, more patient influence campaign.
This campaign targets what Ben-David called the “second-tier level” of influence: Staffers of members of Congress, graduate students and academics who will become “the foreign policy establishment of tomorrow.”
By pouring billions of dollars into elite American universities and think tanks, Qatar is not just purchasing goodwill; it is actively shaping the intellectual ecosystem and promoting a specific, anti-Israel ideology rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, of which it is a leading state sponsor, he warned.
According to Ben-David, the Arab Center Washington DC conference appeared to be an insular affair, an “echo chamber” with a “relatively small” crowd. He noted a pervasive sense of frustration among the speakers that their protests and demonstrations against Israel had not had a greater effect.
One of the goals of the conference, Ben-David argued, was to “hold up the flag for their Qatari benefactors: ‘Look what we did!’”
Despite their frustrations, Ben-David, who followed the conference via its video feed, said that speakers were encouraged by polling of Americans. The polls, they said, were “going their way,” and speakers felt they were successfully “chipping away” at American support for Israel. This, Ben-David noted, was the “self-congratulatory aspect.”
The true impact of Qatar’s soft power, Ben-David argued, is not about swaying today’s headlines but rather about shaping the minds of tomorrow’s leaders.
“Members of Congress are not going to be attending that event, but there are staffers. There are graduate students. Georgetown University is one of the top schools feeding people into the foreign policy world. And so that’s where I believe their influence is,” he said.
This assessment is backed by extensive financial data. A 2022 report from the Network Contagion Research Institute identified Qatar as the single largest foreign donor to American universities, contributing at least $4.7 billion between 2001 and 2021.
Ben-David noted in his report that “the Qatar Foundation and its ACW and ACRPS affiliates provide a steady stream of ‘experts’ to editors, media, publications and speaking occasions in the United States.”
U.S. Justice Department Foreign Agent records provided an example from October 2024. He said one of the letters on file stated, “As we approach the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, the following Qatar Foundation experts are available to support your coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel-Hizbullah conflict and regional repercussions. All experts are based in Doha (GMT+3) and available for virtual interviews. Their institutions are part of Qatar Foundation’s Education City.”
‘Money not only buys influence … ’
Qatar’s influence campaign is inseparable from its role as a primary state sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood. A June 9, 2025, report by the Foundation for the Washington D.C.-based Defense of Democracies (FDD), authored by Ben Cohen and Ahmad Sharawi, titled “10 Things to Know About the Muslim Brotherhood,” described the movement as being “dedicated to the remaking of society and government according to the dictates of Islamic law, or sharia.”
The FDD report noted that the Brotherhood’s worldview is inherently hostile to liberal democratic values and that “antisemitism is woven deeply into the Muslim Brotherhood’s worldview.”
Crucially, the report identified Qatar as a “leading supporter and exporter of Muslim Brotherhood ideology.” This support is both financial and political. According to the FDD, Qatar “pumped approximately $8 billion into Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government” after the 2011 Arab Spring and later “offered sanctuary to Egyptian Brotherhood members.”
Doha is also a key patron of Hamas, which the report identified as “an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood,” providing more than $1 billion to the terror group while hosting its political leadership. The state-owned Al Jazeera media network, based in Doha, serves as a global mouthpiece promoting this ideology, the FDD report stated.
The scale of Qatar’s financial investment in American institutions is immense, and experts argue it is designed to shield Doha from scrutiny. Ben-David pointed to the Qatar Foundation, run by the Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, “one of the richest and most influential figures in Qatar,” which, he said, has cash reserves of “$7 billion.”
“Money not only buys influence, it also buys some silence and … protection,” he said.
This has led to questions about why Qatari-funded entities are not required to register as foreign agents. “The Arab Center in Washington, why are they not considered foreign agents, why are they not registering at the Justice Department?” Ben-David asked.
“Clearly, they’re getting money from Qatari sources.” While lobbyists must register, law firms are exempt, creating a significant loophole, he noted.
Ben-David called for far more regulatory oversight of these activities.
“The Foreign Agent Registration Office needs to look into these things, and that’s the bottom line in my conclusion,” he said. “The number of organizations and PR firms that have worked with the Qataris is phenomenal.”