Qatar, Jewish bribery, and the whitewashing of terror

In recent years, Qatar has emerged as a significant financial player on the global stage, particularly in its relations with the Jewish community and Israel. However, beneath the surface of its monetary influence, Qatar’s ties to terrorism and its efforts to manipulate and buy off key Jewish leaders and Israel’s political elites have raised serious questions about the moral and ethical ramifications of its actions.

Beginning in 2017, when Nick Muzin became a registered paid agent of Qatar and began to take top right-wing pro-Israel influencers to Israel, I have taken the strongest possible public stance against Qatar’s influence in the Jewish community, including full-page ads in the New York Times. Ultimately, our efforts at the World Values Network bore significant fruit when the national media, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Mother Jones, Tablet, and many other publications exposed Muzin’s efforts and the Jewish influencers who accepted all-expenses-paid junkets to Qatar. Many were expected, in return, to participate in public defense of the terror-funding kingdom, and some even took real cash to do so.

The investigations remain ongoing and culminated last week in the astonishing display of the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, the world’s most prestigious Jewish publication, being detained by the Israeli police for his alleged efforts to whitewash Qatar. Zvika Klein served as editor of my own option pieces in the Post, and I had asked him many times if Qatar paid for his trip, a question he refused to answer. Only this week did he tell Israel TV that Qatar had funded the trip (so much for objectivity), and with all due respect to Zvika, he must resign as editor if the Jerusalem Post is to have any continued credibility.

Qatar’s gambit all along was to buy off Jewish leaders, whitewash its ties to terrorism, and now, as we can see with some of those now arrested even in the prime minister’s office, manipulate Israel’s highest echelons to whitewash the terror-funding activities of this most malevolent of Middle East actors.

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In short, let me be absolutely clear. Anyone doing business with Qatar, from buying real estate to serving as its paid lobbyist, is suspect. For Qatar is, was, and probably will continue to be the foremost funder, defender, and promoter of Hamas. That so many supposed heroes of the Jewish community, like Alan Dershowitz, wrote opinion pieces praising Qatar is sickening, with Dershowitz’s opinion piece in The Hill, dated January 18, 2018 being by far the most ignominious of all. How can we reconcile Dershowitz, one of the most talented defenders of Israel alive, actually writing this vomitous declaration about Hamas’s number one funder: “After hearing these different accounts, I observed that Qatar is quickly becoming the Israel of the Gulf States, surrounded by enemies, subject to boycotts and unrealistic demands, and struggling for its survival”?

Ucchh.

When it comes to Israel, to paraphrase Churchill, never before has one man who has done so much for so many done so much to become so little.

The whitewashing of Qatar by some of Jewry’s most boldface names represents a deep and disturbing corruption of Jewish values, a violation of the trust placed in those entrusted with defending Israel, and a grave threat to the stability of the Middle East.

Qatar has long been associated with terrorism, acting as both a financier and a safe haven for organizations that seek to destroy Israel and destabilize the region. For years, Qatar has provided financial support to Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, and has maintained ties with other groups that espouse violent jihad. Despite these connections, Qatar has managed to paint itself as a moderate and peace-loving nation, leveraging its enormous wealth to influence global opinion, including within the Jewish community.

In the years leading up to 2017, Qatar began an aggressive campaign of financial influence, offering money and resources to key Jewish leaders and institutions in the hope of garnering political support. This included donations to prominent Jewish advocacy groups and high-profile individuals who hold sway in the pro-Israel community. While many of these figures initially resisted Qatar’s overtures, others were seduced by the allure of wealth and prestige, falling into a pattern of compromise that threatened to undermine their commitment to Jewish values and Israel’s security.

As a rabbi, writer, and outspoken advocate for Israel, I have made it a central mission to expose the hypocrisy and moral failures of those who compromise Jewish principles in the name of money and influence as it specifically relates to harming Israel and the Jewish people. Beginning in 2017, I began to fight against Qatar’s concerted efforts to whitewash its ties to terrorism, particularly its financial relationship with key Jewish leaders who were becoming increasingly entangled with the regime.

One of Qatar’s most effective strategies was its ability to build relationships with high-profile Jewish figures, many of whom have a long history of advocating for Israel’s interests. These individuals, including Alan Dershowitz, Mort Klein, Martin Oliver, and Malcolm Hoenlein, were approached by Qatar, and traveled there mostly in secret, only to be exposed later in the global media. What incentives they were offered is still mostly secret and is still being debated. By securing the visits of these influential figures, Qatar hoped to neutralize the growing criticism of its actions and portray itself as a friend of Israel, despite its ties to the forces that seek Israel’s destruction.

Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Hamptons Synagogue was duped into heavily promoting Qatar as a “kosher” destination ahead of the 2022 World Cup. We don’t what incentives he was offered. What we do know is that his entire campaign amounted to Qatar selling plain kosher bagels in a tiny room in an out-of-the-way hotel, lest they be seen as actually and openly welcoming Jewish tourists. Schneier till today has never apologized for his misinformation campaign.

In response to all these efforts, I launched a public campaign to expose the financial relationships between Qatar and key lobbyist and figures in the pro-Israel community. I called out their hypocrisy, warning that their acceptance of Qatari junkets and perhaps even funding would ultimately harm the Jewish people and undermine the security of the Jewish state. I argued that these leaders, by accepting gifts from the supporters of Hamas terrorism and from the regime that was actually granting sanctuary to the leaders of Hamas, were betraying their moral responsibilities and putting their reputations — and Israel — at risk.

As my campaign to expose Qatar’s influence gained momentum, I became a target of a coordinated retaliation campaign. According to a report by the New York Times, my personal and professional emails were hacked by individuals with ties to Qatar. The cyber-attack was a clear attempt by the terror kingdom to frighten me and my family into silence and never again be vocal critics of Qatar’s machinations.

The hacking incident served as a chilling reminder of the lengths to which Qatar was willing to go to protect its interests and maintain its grip on the Jewish community and Israel’s political establishment. This was not a minor setback — it was an orchestrated attack on my ability to communicate and continue my advocacy. The fact that such tactics were employed by a regime that claims to champion peace and moderation underscores the true nature of Qatar’s actions: ruthless, manipulative, terrifying, and driven by a desire to control the narrative surrounding its involvement in terrorism and violence.

Perhaps saddest of all were the links between Malcolm Hoenlein, the emeritus chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who traveled secretly to Qatar only to be outed by the press, amid allegations and rumors of some sort of compensation. What a tragic bookend to an otherwise storied career of fighting for the Jewish people.

Indeed, the Hoenlein affair should force the American Jewish community to go so far as to rethink the very purpose and effectiveness of the Conference of Presidents, set up during the Eisenhower administration, and increasingly clueless and out of touch with the current state of the American Jewish community. The Trump administration famously has almost nothing to do with the conference. And I believe a replacement organization — this time with far greater Orthodox participation, because that group now numbers close to 20 percent of the community — should be set up. This includes the ultra-orthodox community, for whom the Conference of Presidents has nothing but contempt and has not invited a single organizational representative, despite the fact that they now increasingly dominate organized Jewish communal life in New York and New Jersey. Indeed, my friend Cory Booker, who betrayed Israel with his disgusting vote in 2015 to fund Iran with $150 billion, knows he cannot win reelection in 2026 unless Lakewood gets behind him, which might explain why Cory suddenly sported a yellow hostage pin in his otherwise vacuous 26-hour oration at the Senate, where he did not mention the word Israel even once.

As to Qatar, the question arises: how could such prominent figures, who have long been advocates for Israel’s security and the defense of Jewish values, become entangled with a regime that funds the very groups dedicated to destroying Israel? The answer lies in the immense financial power wielded by Qatar, which has been able to seduce even the most respected leaders.

Two prominent investigative outlets, the Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones, have conducted in-depth investigations into Qatar’s efforts to buy off influencers in the Jewish community and its manipulation of key figures in the pro-Israel movement. These investigations have shed light on the extent to which Qatar has used its financial resources to influence Jewish leaders, including those mentioned earlier, and the implications this has for both Israel and the broader Jewish community.

The Wall Street Journal investigation uncovered the depth of Qatar’s financial relationships with Jewish leaders and institutions, revealing how the regime has used its wealth to create a network of influence that spans across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, Mother Jones conducted an exhaustive dive into Qatar’s covert efforts to infiltrate and control Jewish advocacy organizations, showing how its money has been used to shape policy and public opinion in ways that are detrimental to Israel’s long-term security.

The influence of Qatar in the Jewish community and its tentacles at the highest levels of Israeli government must be stopped. As a nation that continues to fund terrorism and support groups dedicated to Israel’s destruction, Qatar poses a direct threat to the security of the Jewish state and the values of the Jewish people.

We must demand accountability from those who have been complicit in Qatar’s influence campaign, and we must work to ensure that Qatar’s reach is curtailed before it can do further damage.

As I have consistently argued, the time to act is now. The future of Israel and the moral compass of the Jewish community are at stake. It is up to us to rise above the temptation of wealth and power and to stand up for what is right, no matter the cost. Only by doing so can we safeguard the future of the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and our very souls.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of 30 books. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @RabbiShmuley.