Qatari-funded events are part of a sophisticated strategy to shape "the foreign policy establishment of tomorrow," a top Israeli researcher tells JNS.
A conference hosted on June 11, 2025, in the American capital by the Arab Center Washington DC, a think tank funded by Qatar and founded in Doha, serves as a case study in the Gulf state’s “soft power strategy” in the United States.
Lenny Ben-David, a research and diplomacy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs who previously served for 25 years at AIPAC and as a senior Israeli diplomat in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, published a report days before the conference, revealing that the Arab Center Washington DC is affiliated with the Qatari Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
The report described both organizations as “cornerstones of the Qatari royal enterprises, led and funded by the Qatar Foundation.”