The US's Georgetown University campus located in Doha, Qatar, is hosting a Hamas-affiliated media personality as a keynote speaker in a conference, in addition to other officials from designated terror organizations.
The conference titled "Reimagining Palestine" is set to kickstart today in Qatar between and last until September 22, according to a Daily Wire expose published Thursday.
One of the main speakers at the conference is Waddah Khanfar, a former official at Qatar's mouthpiece, Al-Jazeera, whose relationship with Hamas has been well-documented throughout the years.
Khanfar was named as an early leader of Hamas' Sudan officeby multiple Arabic-speaking outlets, including Palestinian Raya Media Network, Yemen-based Mareb press, and the British Al-Arab website.
Likewise, according to Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al-Jazeera English Egypt bureau chief, the Muslim Brotherhood described Khanfar in 2007 as “one of the most prominent leaders in the Hamas Office in Sudan.”
Khanfar was also reportedly related to the Al-Aqsa Foundation in South Africa, which the US Treasury Department designated ‘a critical part of Hamas terrorist support infrastructure.’ Finally, Khanfar's brothers, Hakam, Mehdi, and Fahmi, were all named members of Hamas by either the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian Authority, or even Hamas.
Close relations
Khanfar was also close with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a prominent Qatar-based cleric and high religious authority of the Muslim Brotherhood and its local branch of Hamas, who endorsed suicide bombings and starkly supported Hamas.
In 2011, Al-Qaradawi praised Khanfar in a 15-minute speech for his efforts on behalf of Al-Jazeera and the Islamic world, and in 2022, Khanfar delivered a eulogy for the Sheikh following his death, in the presence of Hamas leaders including Khaled Meshaal.
Other speakers at the conference include Shawan Jabarin, who is closely affiliated with another designated terror organization, the PFLP; and Issam Younis, who in the past supported Hamas' oppressive rule in Gaza and sat on a panel with Hamas leader and notorious terrorist, Yahya Sinwar.
Qatari influence from K-12 education to sports, energy, and media
Qatar’s Georgetown campus is part of the university’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) – the top foreign policy school in the world.
According to reports, Qatar has given roughly $1,000,000,000 to Georgetown University since 2005, which may imply undue foreign influence over the institution and raises concerns about what messages are being taught to America’s future diplomats and foreign affairs officials.
In February, the Texas A&M board decided to close its Doha campus, after it was revealed that the university was handing intellectual property over to Qatar.
The agreements were signed between Texas A&M and the Qatar Foundation, a regime-controlled agency that maintains the relationships between Qatar and foreign universities.
These contracts allowed Qatar to obtain control of research and discoveries, including those related to nuclear research, made at Texas A&M’s Doha campus using the university’s world-renowned resources.
Doha's involvement in the education sector of the US is not limited to universities, as reports have shown that recently a Qatari foundation began funding and promoting courses for K-12 schools in several school districts in California and across the US, many of them revolving around the Palestinian narrative which erases Jewish presence in and ties to the Land of Israel.
Qatar support of the Muslim Brotherhood
Qatar is one of the main supporters and promoters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its violent endeavors. It has hosted Hamas leaders for the past decade and also granted safe haven to Khaled Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
In this context, it should be noted that Qatari influence in the US is notable in many other fields, with endeavors led mainly by the regime-sanctioned Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
Examples include involvement in real estate, with QIA's purchase of a 10% stake in the Empire State Building and the $660 million purchase of the New York Plaza Hotel in 2018; sports with the purchase of a 5% stake in the company that owns the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics, Monumental Sports & Entertainment; energy with QIA's $550 million purchase of the Midstream crude operator Oryx in 2019; and even social media, with QIA's reported contribution of $375 million to Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter in 2022.
These examples, as well as the appearance of Khanfar at the Doha based conference, emphasize Qatar’s “double game:” gaining influence in the US through soft power and popular culture on the one hand; and generously sponsoring terrorists and terror groups while propagating pro-Hamas narratives through their media channels on the other, as part of the Qatar - Al-Jazeera - Hamas axis.