Georgetown’s Qatari Branch to Host Former Al Jazeera Executive Who Praised October 7 Massacre

Georgetown University’s branch in Qatar has invited Wadah Khanfar, a former Al Jazeera executive who celebrated the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis, to speak at its “Reimagining Palestine” conference, which begins in Doha on September 20. Georgetown claims that its Qatari branch upholds the same values and adheres to the same policies as its campus in Washington, yet the invitation of Khanfar suggests the university’s oversight is insufficient or the rules are different in Doha.

Georgetown established a satellite branch in Qatar (GU-Q) in 2005 in partnership with the Qatar Foundation, a state-run non-profit that the Qatari royal family founded in 1995. The Qatar Foundation operates a 12-square-kilometer campus in Doha known as “Education City” that houses satellite branches of six American universities, GU-Q included. (Texas A&M announced in February that it will close its Qatar campus by 2028.)

According to the Department of Education, Georgetown University has received more than $870 million in gifts and contracts from Qatar since 2005. A substantial portion of that funding underwrote GU-Q.

In September 2023, GU-Q launched the Hiwaraat conference series, which “brings together scholars, policymakers, diplomats, and government officials from around the world to contribute innovative solutions to a wide range of global and regional issues.” The “Reimagining Palestine” conference is the latest installment in the series and will focus on “the future of Gaza.” In that regard, Khanfar, a former director general of Al Jazeera, has made clear where his sympathies lie.

At a symposium hosted by the Al Jazeera Forum on May 25, Khanfar said that “Al-Aqsa Flood” — Hamas’s preferred designation for the October 7 massacre — “came at the perfect moment for a radical and real shift in the path of struggle and liberation.” He also forecasted that October 7 “will be recorded as the beginning of the end, leading the Palestinian cause to something different.” 

These comments are not surprising if one considers Khanfar close ties to the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, former spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qaradawi hosted a long-running show on Al Jazeera in which he famously endorsed suicide bombings against Israelis. Two years ago, Khanfar delivered a 10-minute eulogy for the Brotherhood cleric.

Raya, a Palestinian news outlet, reported in 2011 that Khanfar once held a local leadership position in Hamas itself while working in South Africa in the 1990s. Likewise, Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al Jazeera bureau chief in Cairo, said the Muslim Brotherhood’s website previously identified Khanfar as a Hamas operative in Sudan, where he attended university. Both reports are unverified.

What is clear is that Khanfar moves in the same orbit as those who have direct ties to Hamas, such as Qaradawi. While working in South Africa, Khanfar also shared an address with the Al-Aqsa Foundation, which the Treasury Department designated in 2003 as a terrorist entity and “a critical part of [the] Hamas terrorist support infrastructure.

Georgetown should immediately rescind its invitation to Khanfar and institute procedures to ensure that its campus does not serve as a platform for those who advocate or celebrate violence. The Department of Education should also ensure that U.S. colleges and universities comply fully with federal requirements to disclose foreign funding — an investigation in 2020 found that $6.5 billion of foreign funding went unreported, including $760 million from Qatar.

Natalie Ecanow is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where David Adesnik is a senior fellow and director of research. For more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Natalie on X @NatalieEcanow and follow David @adesnik. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.