US President for Life hopeful Donald Trump was offered a modified luxury Boeing 747 plane to use as Air Force 1 by the United Arab Emirates. He would like to accept the plane and stated that he would be “a stupid person” if he did not (BBC). This arrangement has garnered criticism from both sides of the aisle and security experts. It has also brought Qatar scrutiny to light.

In 2020 officials at the US Department of Education released findings in their investigation into Georgetown University, Texas A&M, Cornell, Yale, Harvard and other US universities. They found over $3 billion dollars in unreported funding from the oil-rich Gulf kingdom of Qatar (Newsweek). A US Department of Justice study in 2019 addressed this topic and showed these institutions experienced increased anti Semitic incidences over the same time period (US deptofjustice.com). Brown University’s Choices program failed to disclose Qatari funding and provided curricular materials to 8,000 kindergarten-12th grade schools with narratives that distorted facts to de-legitimize Israel (ISGAP).

In 2025, Education Secretary Linda McMahon that billions from China and Qatar “enabled foreign governments to steal taxpayer-funded intellectual property and reshape how our elite campuses teach about Israel and the Middle East Wikipedia

Harvard University received more than $100 million in contributions from government sources in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bangladesh in the last four years, according to data released by the Department of Education (The Harvard Crimson).

In 2003, the U.S. Congress was made aware that a plethora of charities based in Qatar were supporting al-Qaeda’s activities by helping move and launder funds for the terrorist group. In 2010, it was reported that the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan was partly bankrolled by wealthy, conservative donors across the Arabian Sea whose governments do little to stop them. Other Arab countries which were listed as sources of militant money were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Wikipedia

The Qatar Diplomatic Crisis from 2017 to 2021 occurred when the Saudi led Arab League severed relations with Qatar for alleged support of terrorism. They claimed Qatar provided financial support for al-Queda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This meant Qatar had violated a 2014 agreement with the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Saudi Arabia and other countries have criticized Al Jazeera and Qatar’s relations with Iran.

Qatar stated they had provided some assistance to Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood but denied supporting al-Queda or ISIL. The demands against Qatar included reducing diplomatic relations with Iran, stopping military coordination with Turkey, and closing Al Jazeera; Qatar refused to agree to any of the Saudi-led coalition’s demands. The US and Kuwait brokered an agreement to end the crisis that is considered a failure. Qatar generated closer ties to Iran and Turkey.

In 2014, David S. Cohen, then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country: “There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law…” In response to these allegations, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in September 2014 went on US television to defend his government against claims that it harbors terrorist financiers. In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, the Emir stated he does not consider those organizations to be terrorists. Wikipedia

• Harvard Received $151 Million From Foreign Governments Since January 2020 The Harvard Crimson
• Pro-terrorist cash is funding US higher ed, and taxpayers should be upset about it The Hill
• Fueling Chaos: Tracing The Flow Of Tax-Exempt Dollars To AntiSemitism (House Ways and Means Committee) house.gov
• Qatar dumped billions into US schools over last four decades: report Fox News
• $13b. in hidden foreign funds linked to 300% antisemitism rise in US universities Jerusalem Post
• The Corruption of the American Mind NCRI
• New Report Uncovers Qatari Influence and Anti-Israel Bias in US K-12 Education Jewish Press
• Unreported Foreign Donations to Universities Foment Anti-Semitism Newsweek
• The Qatar Blockade Is Over, but the Gulf Crisis Lives On Foreign Policy
• Qatar and State Sponsored Terrorism Wikipedia
• Trump’s critics and supporters unite against Qatar plane deal BBC