Monumental antisemitism: Qatar and DC sports

OPINION:

The insidiousness of Qatar’s influence operations in the United States is hardly news to anyone who has been paying attention.

For years, the Qatar Foundation philanthropies and the Qatar Investment Authority, controlled by Qatari first lady Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned, have played a key role in the organization and funding of the radical antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on U.S. college campuses.

Since 2017, Qatar has hired at least 100 different firms for lobbying and public relations, according to the Foreign Agents Registration Act database. Qatar has also lavished tens of millions of dollars on nonprofit Washington think tanks, including the Brookings Institution. And Qatar has given over $5 billion to U.S. universities, according to records published by the U.S. Department of Education.

Another example of the insidious influence of Qatar on the U.S. political debate is the propaganda news network Al Jazeera, which is owned and funded by Qatar. Essentially, Al Jazeera has used the shield of our press freedoms to conduct intelligence gathering and influence peddling operations. Credentialed members of the House and Senate galleries enjoy unparalleled access to the U.S. Capitol, as well as to senators, members of Congress, and staffers.

The most recent list of press credentials issued by Congress shows that Al Jazeera’s subsidiaries (Al Jazeera International, Al Jazeera English, and AJ+) have 136 employees whom Congress has credentialed. For context, The New York Times has 82 employees with credentials. Qatar has already used al Jazeera itself to conduct surveillance operations to damage members of the Jewish community who actively support a strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel — a worldview shared by an overwhelming majority of Congress.

The outcome of this expanding and sophisticated Qatari influence campaign has been hugely detrimental to American interests. It has fueled burgeoning antisemitic movements both here and abroad, has frequently advocated positions in direct contravention of long-standing U.S. foreign policy, and has given ideological aid and comfort to terrorist movements such as Hamas.

This stands to reason, since Qatar harbors and sponsors the Hamas leaders responsible for the single largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

Now, this mainstreaming of the premier funder of terrorism in the Middle East has extended to tolerating their ownership of — and profit from — American professional sports. Apparently, Ted Leonsis, owner of Monumental Sports Entertainment, has decided to go ahead with a misguided and dangerous sale to the Qatar Investment Authority of 5% of the company — and thus 5% of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.

I say apparently because Mr. Leonsis has not provided Congress with any verification of a spokesperson’s claim that the deal has gone through. Instead, a mouthpiece for Monumental put out a mealy-mouthed statement in response to a letter of inquiry I sent to Mr. Leonsis in October, insisting that Qatar’s minority investment is passive, adding that “Qatar Investment Authority has no governance rights and no ability to direct, control or influence our teams and our business.”

NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum similarly maintained that “QIA has no governance rights or ability to control business decisions as a result of the deal.” David Zimmerman, NHL senior executive vice president, went further in his toadying obeisance to the Qatari regime script by insisting that Qatar is “an ally and statice partner” to the U.S. and that the investment by QIA was “infinitesimal.”

All of this studiedly and embarrassingly misses the point. If a regime responsible for funding Hamas is allowed to profit from professional sports in the United States, then the organizations that allow it — the NHL, the NBA, Monumental — are complicit in funding terrorism and making their fans complicit as well.

To give just one concrete example of this moral dilemma: Last July, Reuters reported that Qatar had paid the Hamas leadership in Gaza hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years for “construction projects” averaging $30 million per month in stipends for 50,000 public sector workers assigned by Hamas to carry out such projects.

After the horrendous Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in October that resulted in the murder of over 1,200 people (including 30 Americans), it was discovered that a major aspect of these so-called construction projects included the construction of an elaborate network of underground tunnels that enabled them to carry out their deadly attack.

Can professional sports leagues and teams in the United States blithely agree to such profit-taking by regimes supporting terrorism? What is Congress’ role in regulating such transactions, given that the NHL and NBA enjoy limited antitrust protections granted by the courts?

I intend to pursue answers to these and other vital questions related to this deal when Congress convenes after the holidays. From where I stand, it stinks to high heaven.

• Rep. Jack Bergman represents Michigan’s 1st Congressional District.