Qatar and Extremism

A German security contractor who worked with the Qatari government has accused factions and individuals within the Gulf kingdom of channeling funds to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, German news outlet Die Zeit reported over the weekend.

Read more at I24 News

Up until recently, the Muslim Brotherhood touted itself as a political movement, which nevertheless, funded other organizations with a record of terrorist activity, such as Hamas, Hassm, Liwa al-Thawra, which have all been designated as terrorist organizations in the United States, Egypt, and other countries.

Read more at The Times of Israel

That gas-rich sheikdom’s funding of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and extremist groups – and not least its longstanding partnership with Iran – is unprecedented among nations which receive US military support and other benefits.

Read more at the Jerusalem Post

Photographer Matthew Schrier claims the Qatar Islamic Bank allowed individuals and a charity to funnel money to terrorist groups fighting in Syria.

Read more at Courthouse News Service

Meanwhile, Qatar is growing closer to Iran, beyond the positive media coverage it gives that nation through the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera network, and has been establishing energy, trade and security ties with a country whose officials frequently espouse the destruction of Israel.

Read more at the Jerusalem Post

The political crisis engulfing Qatar stems from accusations by its Arab neighbors that it supports terrorism. Qatar denies the allegations, but its ties with Iran and embrace of various Islamist groups have brought intense scrutiny, made it a regional outlier and created enough smoke to suggest a fire.

Read more at Haaretz

The heightened awareness of Qatar’s support for dangerous policies should alarm American companies considering doing business with entities linked to the Qatari government.

Read more at The Hill

“I decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding. They have to end that funding and its extremist ideology,” the president added. “The nation of Qatar has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

Read more at Business Insider