Israel’s Diaspora minister pans Doha Forum, spotlights bad actors

Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli sharply criticized the Doha Forum held this weekend in Qatar’s capital. The annual conference, which has taken place since 2003, bills itself as a “global platform for dialogue.”

“Doha, the world capital of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ATM of Hamas, is opening this weekend its annual Terror Laundering Gala, the@DohaForum,” Chikli wrote in a Dec. 5 post on X.

Qatar is a major sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist group that spreads fundamentalist Sunni Muslim ideology around the world.

The group is engaged in a “grand jihad” to destroy Western civilization from within, according to a 1991 document uncovered during a U.S. government investigation of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

“A brief reminder of the terror money trail: hundreds of millions to Al Qaeda in Syria; hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the Taliban through Doha banks; Qatari ‘charities’ caught funneling money to Al Shabaab; more than two billion dollars to Hamas,” Chikli wrote.

Some of the personalities participating in the conference included Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s present leader, whose past associations as a terrorist and Al-Qaeda commander have been whitewashed, Chikli said. (U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed al-Sharaa to the White House on Nov. 10.)

Other featured speakers included former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Ankara, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule, has been supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, extending sanctuary to Hamas members.

“And who flies in to bless this spectacle?” Chikli asked, listing first American pundit Tucker Carlson, “the man who described Hamas jihadists as a ‘political party’ and wondered ‘what is so bad about Sharia.’”

Another participant was CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour, who hosts “every blood-soaked Islamist foreign minister on earth,” Chikli said. In 2023, Amanpour apologized in the face of a potential $1.3 billion lawsuit after she described the cold-blooded murder of three Israeli women as a “shootout.”

The Diaspora affairs minister also spotlighted the participation of Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. Albanese has been widely condemned for making antisemitic statements and minimizing the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. She has stated that the Oct. 7 victims “were not killed because of their Judaism but in response to Israel’s oppression.”

A 2025 Israeli government report on her misconduct stated, “Throughout her tenure, Albanese has repeatedly violated the norms of impartiality, universality, and professional integrity that are foundational to her U.N. mandate.

“Her public statements have featured Holocaust distortion, denial of Israel’s right to exist, and rhetoric that minimizes or justifies terrorist violence—language fundamentally at odds with the principles of international human rights law.”

Also attending the Doha Forum, though not mentioned by Chikli, were Donald Trump, Jr., described on the Doha Forum site as primarily a partner at financial firm 1789 Capital, which is seeking Gulf state investment; former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Pierre Krähenbühl, director general of the Red Cross and former commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), from which he resigned over allegations of ethical misconduct; and, Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National initiative.