Nearly all the attention surrounding the Qatargate affair has focused on Qatar’s alleged ability to penetrate the innermost circle of the prime minister, through figures who reportedly promoted Qatari messaging in the Israeli media in an effort to improve Doha’s image among the Israeli public, at Egypt’s expense.
But this affair is, at most, a symptom. Behind it stands a far deeper threat, one of the most severe strategic dangers facing Israel: the systematic expansion of the Muslim Brotherhood, driven both by ideological motives and by Qatar’s pragmatic strategy to amass regional and international influence through cross-border influence and perception operations. Qatar is not the ideology. It is the platform, the financier and the force multiplier.
This threat is not new, but over the past decade it has changed form. Fewer clandestine cells and more campuses. Fewer leaflets and more algorithms. Less “classic” terrorism and more perception-shaping. Let me explain.
Qatar invests billions of dollars each year in acquiring influence, not only in the Middle East but at the heart of the West as well: universities, media outlets, politicians, civil society organizations and social media campaigns. The overarching goal is clear: shaping public perception, promoting favorable narratives and expanding Qatar’s ideological and political influence.
In the media sphere, the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera network operates in some 70 countries and broadcasts to more than 300 million households. Al Jazeera English, alongside the AJ+ platform launched in 2013 and aimed specifically at younger Western audiences, serve as central tools for advancing clearly anti-Israel narratives, anti-Western messaging and, at times, pro–Muslim Brotherhood positions.
3 View gallery
Materials from the US education system: Qatar-funded curricula on Palestine aimed at cultivating youth activism and inciting delegitimization of Israel
At the same time, these platforms promote ultra-liberal agendas designed to generate sympathy and trust among young Western audiences, agendas that are entirely illegal in Qatar itself but highly effective in building influence abroad.
AJ+ alone has about 35 million followers on Facebook, 1.5 million on Twitter and 1.3 million on YouTube, reaching hundreds of millions of views each month across North America and Europe. A disproportionate share of its content focuses on Israel, with a consistent message portraying Israel as an enemy of humanity.
As early as October 8, 2023, content was published presenting Hamas as a liberation movement and placing responsibility for the massacre on Israel. This is not criticism of policy. It is disinformation, half-truths and blood libels. For example, AJ+ has been among the outlets spreading the baseless accusation that Israeli soldiers are sent to harvest organs from Gaza residents for organ trafficking.
The influence does not stop at social media. The American education system has also become a battleground, long before academia and as early as age 6.
Since 2009, Qatar Foundation International has invested at least $30 million in U.S. public schools, funding curricula, teaching materials and teacher training programs. Some of this content includes anti-Israel narratives and encourages identification with “Palestinian resistance.”
Children receive coloring books depicting “Palestine from the river to the sea,” while teachers are given guidance on how to handle opposition from parents and staff. The propaganda even seeps into math lessons, through exercises framing Israel as violent and oppressive and Palestinians as heroic.
In addition, Israelis are portrayed as white, sometimes blond, oppressing dark-skinned Palestinians. There is little doubt that whoever wrote this does not spend much time in Israel.
It is important to provide context and avoid overgeneralization. Not every American student is exposed to these materials, and their use is not automatic but a matter of choice. Still, the volume of content and the push to integrate it into the education system continue to grow, with Qatari funding.
Academia, as noted, is also part of the picture. Qatar is among the largest foreign donors to U.S. universities. More than $1 billion has been transferred over the past decade and a half to Georgetown University, including the establishment of a campus in Doha, alongside significant donations to Cornell, Carnegie Mellon and others, primarily to faculties dealing with Middle Eastern studies, history and political science.
The implications are clear. Qatar is acting systematically to create an influence ecosystem in which public, cultural and political consciousness is shaped through academia, media and social networks by narratives that serve its interests.
At the same time, Qatar invests vast sums in lobbyists, public relations firms and Western media outlets to polish its image. This is not merely geopolitics. It is activity that enables the spread of extremist Islamist worldviews and undermines Israel’s legitimacy to exist.
The alleged transfer of messages by individuals close to the prime minister is only the tip of the iceberg. A well-functioning state prepares strategically for a long-term campaign and understands that the threat is being built from the age of six, among the children of our closest allies.
The question is not theoretical. When these children reach Congress or European parliaments, will they support security cooperation with Israel? Will they seek economic and cultural ties with a country that was shaped in their minds from childhood as an enemy?