According to a report in Yediot Ahronot, Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General of Qatar’s Supreme Committee responsible for the competition, met recently with American Rabbi Marc Schneier and asked that he serve as an adviser to Qatar for "all matters" related to Jewish and Israeli visitors and their needs.
Schneier a prominent Long Island rabbi, has established in recent years good ties with leaders in the Persian Gulf as head of an organization promoting Jewish-Islamic ties called the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
“This is an exceptional development that demonstrates the Qataris’ sensitives toward Israelis and the Jewish world,” Schneier told Yediot, adding that Al Thawadi asked him to provide guidance on the needs of Jewish fans.
In a recent column in The Jerusalem Report, Schneier predicted that Gulf states would establish diplomatic ties with Israel in 2019.
“Think of the transformative possibilities of an Israel-Gulf alliance – bringing fruitful collaboration between the countries with the world’s greatest reserves of oil and Israel, with its unsurpassed acumen in the fields of hi-tech and water management,” he wrote. “Think of the possibilities for affecting healing and reconciliation between Muslims and Jews around the world, if the King of Saudi Arabia, the keeper of Islam’s two holiest shrines, makes peace with the Prime Minister of Israel.”