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Why Qatar Was Left Out of the DETERRENT Act — and Why That’s a Mistake
Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greeted by Qatari Minister of State Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, in Doha, Qatar, Aug. 20, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool
The US House of Representatives recently passed the DETERRENT Act, aiming to increase transparency about foreign funding in American universities.
While the bill targets foreign financial influence from adversaries like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, one critical country was notably absent from this list: Qatar.
While Qatar presents itself as an ally of the US, its financial influence on US institutions should have raised red flags — especially when it comes to its support for anti-Israel narratives and its ties to extremist groups.
This oversight isn’t just a diplomatic blunder; it undermines the safety and integrity of American interests. The DETERRENT Act was designed to protect US universities from foreign powers that manipulate US policies and public opinion. Qatar, despite its ostensible ally status, has been using its financial influence to shape US academia, subtly pushing a narrative that often runs counter to American and Israeli security interests.
Qatar’s financial footprint in higher education is large. Universities such as Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown have received millions of dollars from the Gulf nation, yet much of this funding has been underreported or not fully disclosed. For example, Yale received nearly $16 million from Qatar, but only $284,668 was officially reported. This lack of transparency about Qatar’s role in shaping academic discourse should be concerning, especially given Qatar’s backing of extremist groups like Hamas and its indirect undermining of US policy in the region.
Qatar’s influence doesn’t just stop at universities. The country funds think tanks, media outlets, and cultural institutions across the US. Its state-run network, Al Jazeera, has long been a platform for anti-Western, anti-Israel rhetoric, influencing public opinion both in the US and globally. While Qatar’s financial investments may appear benign, they are a calculated effort to shape the narrative on Middle Eastern politics, often casting Israel in a negative light and presenting Qatar as a neutral actor in a region rife with conflict.
By omitting Qatar from the DETERRENT Act, Congress has essentially overlooked the more covert influence Qatar wields in shaping American perceptions and policies. While Iran and China are obvious threats to US national security and are appropriately targeted by the bill, Qatar’s financial influence operates more insidiously.
Qatar’s ties to terrorism are another significant factor that should not be ignored. The country’s financial support for groups like Hamas, which advocates for the destruction of Israel, makes it incompatible with American and Israeli interests. Yet, Qatar continues to be treated as a strategic ally, partly because of its role in hosting the US military’s largest base in the region. But military cooperation should not be a free pass for Qatar to continue influencing US academic institutions and shaping policy in its favor, especially when its values run counter to those of the US and its closest allies.
The recent vote in Congress against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)’s amendments targeting Israel — a move aimed at isolating Israel by adding it to the list of countries of concern — shows bipartisan support for Israel and a clear rejection of efforts to undermine the US-Israel alliance. Israel plays a critical role in countering regional threats and sharing vital intelligence that enhances US security. However, the DETERRENT Act still fails to address Qatar’s under-the-radar influence in American universities, leaving US interests vulnerable to manipulation.
For lawmakers, it’s essential that they recognize Qatar’s role in shaping public opinion and policy through financial means. Qatar’s growing influence in the academic world poses a serious challenge to US transparency and national security.
In the long run, leaving Qatar out of the DETERRENT Act sends the wrong message to both domestic and foreign actors. US interests and Israel’s security should always come first. Congress must rethink its approach to foreign influence in US education and ensure that Qatar’s financial ties to US institutions are held to the same standards of transparency as those of adversarial nations.
Amine Ayoub, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco. Follow him on X: @amineayoubx
The post Why Qatar Was Left Out of the DETERRENT Act — and Why That’s a Mistake first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.