How does Qatar get away with it? That’s the question that JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is asking. Qatar is not only a close ally of Iran and a funder of Hamas, but also does the most to spread Islamist ideology and hatred for Israel in America. It’s also gotten away with posing as an honest broker in the Middle East and an American ally.
He’s joined in this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by veteran Middle East analyst and former U.S. military officer Michael Pregent, who has some of the answers to the question of Qatar’s successful influence operation. According to him, it starts with American leaders in both parties who want to be flattered, but it is also largely driven by the Gulf emirate’s buying of influence among opinion leaders, business people and politicians. As Pregent points out, there are a lot of lobbyists and other figures in Washington, D.C., who “couldn’t pay their mortgages” without the money they get either directly or indirectly from Qatar.
The most prominent example is Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. While many have been puzzled by Witkoff’s public comments, including those made on Tucker Carlson’s podcast in which he declared, contrary to the facts, that the Qataris are loyal U.S. allies, honest brokers, and not allied with Iran and Hamas. As Pregent points out, this clueless endorsement of the emirate must be seen in the context of Qatar’s decision to bail him out on a real estate deal gone bad to the tune of $623 million.
That calls into question Trump’s decision to allow Witkoff to be the lead negotiator in a new diplomatic initiative aimed at persuading Iran to give up its nuclear program. Pregent notes that while the Obama and Biden administrations had envoys determined to appease leaders in Tehran, they did so because they believed in that dangerous policy. Witkoff is a diplomatic novice who is being played by people who helped him financially.
Witkoff is the most outrageous example of how a rogue nation works to exploit its financial clout to influence U.S. policy. Pregent says examples of Qatar’s influence peddling abound in the United States, including its efforts to gain support from members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, and its funding of Middle East studies departments at colleges where anti-Zionism has been mainstreamed. On top of that, Qatar owns Al Jazeera, the Islamist propaganda news outlet far too often treated as a reliable source of information by many in the West.
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