Senators Say It’s Time For Al Jazeera To Register As Foreign Agent Of Qatar

 Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly asked the Qatari government to rein in Al Jazeera’s coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza — an apparent admission from the Biden administration that the outlet, despite its failure to register as one, is viewed as an agent of Qatar.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires any entity that acts on behalf of a foreign entity to foreign principal to influence U.S. public opinion. Analysts say it’s hard to fit the bill more clearly than Al Jazeera — funded entirely by the Qatari government and actively publishing highly trafficked English-language news in the United States.

Yet the Biden administration has done nothing to pressure Al Jazeera to register as a foreign agent, bewildering those who have been pushing for years for the Qatari outlet to file the legally required registration. Now that the Biden administration has telegraphed its determination that Qatar has the power to control Al Jazeera, it’s time for the foreign agent relationship to be made official.

“Al Jazeera consistently pushes the position of the Qatari government, which is often antisemitic, anti-American, and anti-Israel,” said Omri Ceren, a top national security advisor for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “The Qatari government has always insisted they don’t control Al Jazeera. Sen. Cruz doesn’t believe that is true, and apparently neither does Sec. Blinken. There is no excuse not to force them to register for FARA.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who authored a letter to Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021 regarding Al Jazeera’s failure to register as a foreign agent, says it’s never been more important.

“Israel is fighting an information war as much as a physical one,” Cotton told The Daily Wire. “Biased information can have disastrous consequences — just look at the damage done by the New York Times’ false story about the hospital in Gaza.”

“With the stakes so high, the Biden administration must insist that Al Jazeera finally admit its influence operation,” Cotton said.

Blinken, in his plea to Qatar, said that Al Jazeera’s coverage was “full of anti-Israel incitement,” according to Axios. Israel is slated to bar the outlet from operating in the country after allegations that it was directly aiding the Hamas terrorists, transmitting “sensitive information” about Israeli troop movements to its enemy.

Qatar has come under the microscope for its role in harboring Hamas — the terrorist group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is based in Doha, Qatar’s capital city. Despite its ties to the terrorist group, U.S. officials have maintained relations with the oil-rich state. A Daily Wire investigation earlier this year found that Qatar has used an American nonprofit, the Attorney General Alliance, to pay for attorneys general to travel to Doha for meetings with top Qatari officials.

Al Jazeera has been one of the most biased sources of news around Israel’s war against Hamas — the Qatar-based outlet, for example, ran with false allegations that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, when in reality the explosion was caused by a terrorist rocket. It published videos casting doubt about “Israel’s changing narrative on hospital bombing,” and stated that “investigations reveal discrepancies in Israel’s Gaza hospital attack claims.”

U.S. officials have stated with “high confidence” that Palestinian terrorists were the source of the hospital bombing.

“Al Jazeera has been credibly accused of conducting espionage operations against Qatar’s perceived enemies in Israel and even in the United States,” Ceren, the Cruz advisor, explained.

Though the outlet’s biased coverage has had massive consequences with war breaking out in the Middle East, it’s advocacy for the foreign policy of Qatar is nothing new. In 2017, the Council on Foreign Relations wrote that Al Jazeera “helps give Qatar influence far greater than what a country of its size could usually expect.”

The Trump administration in one of its final acts ordered a U.S.-based Al Jazeera affiliate to register as a foreign agent, with its Department of Justice arguing that the outlet engages in “political activities” on behalf of Qatar’s government, according to the New York Times.

The foreign agent filing never came through, but the Biden administration has failed to make the outlet face any consequences, according to a group of U.S. Senators that includes Cotton and Cruz.

“Al Jazeera+ has willfully ignored DOJ’s mandate and has failed to register as a foreign agent,” wrote the senators to Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021. “With AJ+’s refusal to register under FARA, agents of the Qatari government continue to operate in the United States in violation of the law.”

“It is imperative for DOJ to explain what, if any, steps it has taken to enforce the law,” the senators wrote.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on Al Jazeera’s foreign agent registration status. Willful violation of FARA is punishable with up to five years in federal prison.