New report outlines depth of Qatari influence in American education, from K-12 schools to universities and even teacher-training programs.

By World Israel News Staff

A new report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy alleges that Qatar Foundation International spent more than $65 million over 16 years on programs that gave it influence over how the Middle East is taught in US classrooms, prompting calls from lawmakers for federal scrutiny.

The report, titled “Institutional Capture: Qatar Foundation International and the Use of Soft Power to Reshape the US Education System,” says QFI funded more than 220 initiatives between 2009 and 2025, reaching K-12 schools, universities, teacher-training programs and national educator networks.

QFI describes itself as an independent Washington-based organization focused on “advancing Arabic as a global language.” The ISGAP report argues that its activities extended well beyond language education and into curriculum development, teacher training, social studies instruction and student activism.

“The scope, duration and method of penetration into the US education system show that this was not a series of isolated educational programs,” said Dr. Charles Asher Small, ISGAP’s founder and executive director, according to a report by Israel Hayom.

“The report specifically documents how funding linked to foreign actors was used to shape educational content and teacher training in ways that were not transparent to institutions, regulators or the public,” Small said.

According to the report, QFI worked with federally funded Middle East studies centers at US universities, including centers connected to Duke University, the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas at Austin. Such centers, supported through the federal Title VI program, are meant to promote foreign-language and regional studies and provide educational resources to teachers.

ISGAP alleges those centers became distribution channels for QFI-backed materials and programs, allowing the organization to reach educators far beyond its direct grant recipients.

The report also says QFI-funded programs affected classroom materials directly. In one case cited by ISGAP, a New York public school that received foundation-linked funding used materials in which Israel was omitted from maps and replaced with “Palestine,” a finding that triggered congressional interest.

In other cases, the report says, teachers who participated in QFI-funded professional-development programs were required to submit lesson plans for review by organization staff. ISGAP said that process gave QFI a role in shaping materials that could later be revised and distributed more widely.

The report also describes virtual partnerships between US classrooms and schools run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, as well as programs that culminated in student activism projects. ISGAP said those initiatives reflected a broader effort to shape students’ understanding of the Middle East, Israel and the Palestinians.

The findings drew criticism from members of both parties.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called the report “shocking” and said it showed “institutional capture” of the US education system by “foreign adversaries who seek to control and manipulate the American education system.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said the allegations underscored the need for stronger disclosure rules.

“American classrooms should never serve as vehicles for foreign government influence,” Gottheimer said. “When a regime like Qatar’s quietly shapes what is taught, who is invited to speak, and which ideas are amplified on our campuses, the American people have a right to know.”

ISGAP called for federal investigations, a ban on further Qatari state or QFI funding of US school programs, stronger disclosure requirements and possible Foreign Agents Registration Act scrutiny.

“These findings require decisive action,” Small said. “We call on federal authorities to conduct a comprehensive review of these activities, examine how they are integrated into publicly funded programs and ensure transparency and accountability throughout the education system.”

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Pro-Hamas, Iranian-aligned Gulf state using its petro dollars to shape the curriculum used by thousands of American K-12 schools in all 50 states, report warns.  

By World Israel News Staff

The Qatari government is using its funding of an American college where the curriculum for thousands of American K-12 schools is drafted to reshape the way school children in the U.S. are taught, injecting anti-Israel bias into primary and secondary school education, a recently published report warns.

Last week, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) published a report documenting the Qatari government’s extensive foreign influence and anti-Israel bias infiltrating U.S. K-12 classrooms through Brown University’s Choices Program.

This curriculum, used by over 8,000 schools across all 50 states and reaching more than one million students, operates with undisclosed foreign funding and has been found to systematically distort historical facts to delegitimize Israel.

The report also raises significant concerns about transparency, oversight, and compliance with federal disclosure laws.

According to the ISGAP report, Qatari funding has led to a systematic manipulation of educational materials used by the Choices Program within the same units over the last decade, gradually shifting its curriculum to present an increasingly anti-Israel perspective.

Changes include the removal of key historical documents and the omission of others, the misrepresentation of Israel’s capital in maps, and the exclusion of balanced perspectives on Israeli history and diplomacy.

Furthermore, the report reveals that the Qatar Foundation International (QFI) has played an undisclosed role in shaping the Choices Program’s curriculum and teacher training.

The report also highlights a critical lack of transparency and oversight in schools utilizing the Choices Program. Schools are not informed when curriculum content is modified, and the proprietary nature of the digital curriculum prevents parents, school boards, and educators from reviewing and assessing changes. This raises serious ethical and legal concerns regarding accountability in education.

Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley from California, Chair of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education of the House Education & Workforce Committee, said that it appeared that “foreign influence from Qatar has infiltrated the Choices Program hosted at Brown University, a curriculum widely adopted in K-12 schools across the country.”

Kiley said he would work “with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to assure foreign influence does not promote antisemitism at American schools.”

The report also exposes the opaque legal and financial structure of the Choices Program, which operates under Brown University’s name while maintaining an ambiguous status that obscures compliance with federal disclosure laws.

The authors of the report said they found substantial evidence suggesting that Brown University may have failed to disclose foreign funding as required under the Higher Education Act. Additionally, the report raises concerns about the potential exposure of student and teacher data to third-party entities.

“This is a direct attempt to manipulate American students by embedding ideologically motivated.  foreign propaganda in their education,” Dr. Charles Asher Small, ISGAP’s executive director, said.

“Foreign entities with known ties to extremist ideologies should not be shaping how our children learn about history and the Middle East. The lack of transparency and oversight in this case is a threat to educational integrity and democratic values. American students should not be used as pawns in foreign propaganda campaigns. It is time to demand transparency, accountability, and an end to the silent manipulation of our children’s education.”

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An ISGAP report labeled Qatar as the largest foreign donor to US universities.

By TPS

As Qatar resumed mediating an Israel-Hamas hostage deal, the Gulf state has also been using its economic power to support Hamas terror and spread propaganda on North American campuses.

One key figure in this effort is Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of current Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

“She is a fashion icon and a philanthropist, but she is openly pro-Hamas,” Asaf Romirowsky, historian and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East community, told The Press Service of Israel.

Through the Qatar Foundation, which Moza heads, Qatari money is flooding American schools and universities to indoctrinate American students.

A 2022 study by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) argued that as funding from Middle Eastern countries increases and becomes less transparent, campuses experience an “erosion of democratic values.”

Another ISGAP report labeled Qatar as the largest foreign donor to US universities.

“Our investigations during the Trump administration revealed that many of the US most prestigious universities are shockingly agnostic about who they’ll take money from,” Paul R. Moore, former chief investigative counsel in the US Department of Education, told TPS-IL.

“The purposes of these donors are often very much contrary to the US national interests. The failure of many of the universities to respond to antisemitic protests is a perfect example. The universities didn’t want to offend their Middle Eastern donors.”

Romirowsky and Moore agreed that President-elect Donald Trump will demand greater transparency from universities about their foreign funding.

“Qatar money is tunneling anti-American values into America, buying hearts and minds. This needs to be changed,” Romirowsky said.

Added Moore, “I fully expect that the incoming Trump administration will quickly reverse the current administration’s negligence of its enforcement obligations. Civil investigations are very likely to occur with universities that have failed to be in compliance.”

After Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in October, Moza eulogized the mastermind of the October 7 attacks.

“The name Yahya means the one who lives. They thought he was dead but he lives. He will live on and they [Israel] will be gone,” she tweeted.

In a recent article in the Jewish Journal, Moza was called a matriarch of the royal family, “heavily involved in the dispersing of funds,” according to Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

According to the FDD, Qatar has given an estimated $1.8 billion to Gaza’s Hamas-run government since 2007, with reports indicating that around 80 percent of that money was paid as salaries to Hamas terrorists and leaders.

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