For a half-century, Qatar has been a tiny, desert oasis for the Muslim Brotherhood and many of the world’s most virulent Islamists.
Writing for The Washington Times, David Reaboi, senior vice president
Since then, Qatar has been the Brotherhood’s most hospitable base of operations. In time, Brotherhood Islamism would soon emerge as Qatar’s de-facto state ideology, as the ruling al-Thani family welcomed the Islamists with lavish funding, the highest state honors, and the establishment of new Islamist institutions that would seek to indoctrinate thousands.
Since Qatar’s most prominent export—the state-owned television network Al-Jazeera—was founded in 1996, the Brotherhood has played a crucial role in programming and setting the editorial line, providing the network’s strong ideologically Islamist backing.
After the Brotherhood’s regional re-emergence in the Arab Spring — with Qatar’s explicit backing—the nation’s promotion of the Islamist group became a pressing issue for neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to contend with. For these US-allied Gulf countries, Qatar’s sponsorship of the Brotherhood wasn’t merely incubating violent terrorism in the Americas and Europe; it was
When Qatar’s neighbors issued the emirate a list of demands in 2017 in order to resume regular relations, halting broadcasts of Al-Jazeera was at the top of their list of grievances.
American elites and policymakers have long been soft targets for Qatari influence and information operations. Even Hillary Clinton gave the state-run Islamist network the highest praise. “Like it or hate it, [Al Jazeera] is really effective,” the then-Secretary of State told lawmakers on Capitol Hill in 2011. “In fact,
In fact, Al Jazeera is the world’s most successful, sophisticated and influential state-directed information operation.
It is remarkably aggressive in service of Qatar’s foreign policy interests, which include four key elements: (1) undermining the stability of its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; (2) promoting Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood
Al Jazeera’s sophistication as an information operation is evident in its ability to promote two very different messages to two audiences simultaneously. In Arabic, Al Jazeera pushes a stream of vile, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and attempts to rile up religious and extremist Muslims against attempts at positive, human rights reforms in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.