Qatar Asked U.S. Universities to Share Oct. 7 Statements Before Publishing

Emails released by a congressional committee show that the Qatar Foundation asked American universities operating campuses in Doha to coordinate their public messaging about the October 7 Hamas attack before issuing statements.

The request emerged during a call between Qatar Foundation officials and administrators from U.S. universities in Doha’s Education City on October 17, 2023. According to emails summarizing the discussion, the foundation asked the schools to ensure “information sharing and no surprises” and said the universities’ communications teams should be “aligned and in touch with QF,” referring to the Qatar Foundation.

Hours after that call, the dean of Northwestern University’s campus in Qatar declined to sign a statement criticizing comments made by one of the campus’s professors who had questioned reports of Hamas atrocities.

In an October 16, 2023 interview with an NPR affiliate in Boston, professor Khaled Al-Hroub said he had not seen “any kind of credible media reporting” that Hamas terrorists had killed Israeli civilians in their beds or raped Israeli women.

After Fox News asked Northwestern to respond to the interview, the university drafted a statement condemning “Al-Hroub's attempt to minimize or misrepresent the horrific killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas on Oct. 7.” The dean of the Qatar campus objected to the wording. In an October 17 email to university communications officials, he wrote, “Not sure about the rape issue,” adding, “But we really don't want to be on the wrong side of the facts here.”

Northwestern later revised the statement to condemn “any attempt” to minimize the attack rather than referring directly to the professor. In another message cited in the report, the dean described Al-Hroub’s remarks as “perfectly academic.”

The report also states that the Qatar campus “intentionally chose not to circulate” an October 13 message sent by Northwestern leadership to students in the United States that described the Hamas attack as “abhorrent and horrific.”

Investigators cited additional examples involving American university programs in Doha. The report notes that a senior figure at Northwestern’s Qatar campus wrote on social media in July 2025 that “Zionists have control over European policy and power,” adding, “If you want to make the leap that Jews control Europe, I don't care.”

At Georgetown University’s campus in Qatar, the report highlights a visiting fellowship program that hosted media personality Sana Saeed. A course connected to the program described concerns about antisemitism in the United States as “manufactured hysteria” and referred to the October 7 assault as “an unprecedented mission by Palestinian resistance groups from Gaza, led by Hamas, to break Israel's siege.”

American universities operating in Qatar do so under agreements that require them to comply with the country’s laws and social norms. According to the report, contracts signed by Northwestern and Georgetown require the schools to follow “the applicable laws and regulations of the State of Qatar” and respect the country’s cultural and religious customs.

A guide provided to visitors at Georgetown’s Doha campus advises guests to “speak respectfully about the emir, the ruling family, and the government system” and to “be cautious about spreading rumors on social media, even if they're true.”

The report also points to the financial scale of Qatar’s partnerships with U.S. universities. Department of Education disclosures cited by the committee show that Qatar provided $396 million to American colleges and universities in 2024 and $1.2 billion in 2025.

Georgetown’s management fee from its Doha campus increased from about $6.1 million in 2019 to $7.6 million in 2025, according to the report, while Northwestern has received a $15 million endowment from Qatar to fund five professorships at its Evanston campus.

Northwestern said it is reviewing the committee’s findings as part of a multi-year evaluation of whether to continue operating its campus in Qatar after its current agreement expires in 2028. Georgetown’s interim president, Robert Groves, told Congress last year that he is “very proud” of the university’s partnership in Qatar.