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This week, a new bill of global importance became a law. Passed by one U.S. state, it sets a template for the entire country to protect schools from a little-known threat: foreign governments, including Qatar, infiltrating public schools.
In the new episode, I’m joined by Esther Panitch, a Georgia state representative who helped spearhead the Foreign Funding Transparency and Accountability Act. She explains “horrifying” experiences, and details how the Qatari ambassador and his deputy went after her.
Listen now:
This “landmark transparency law” is needed urgently. Qatar, a nation founded in 1971, isn’t satisfied with just brainwashing people through its propaganda giant Al Jazeera. It’s also spending billions of dollars — incomparably more than any other nation — to warp minds at U.S. universities. And now:
“There are multiple ways that anti-Jewish and anti-American ideology is becoming institutionalized in K-12 education, including teacher training programs, foreign-funded materials, radical union members, and curriculum development organizations,” Brandy Shufutinsky of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told a Congressional committee.
“FDD has found foreign funding going directly to developing curriculum and K-12 teacher salaries in multiple states. Multiple public school districts received funds from Qatari Foundation International, an instrument of the Qatari royal family.”
Some of the materials present “a complete revision of history,” demonizing Israel, she testified. Director of FDD’s Program on Education and National Security, Shufutinsky has spoken out about lies being taught at all levels:
The new law addresses a gaping hole.
“Currently, federal law requires that universities report foreign gifts more than $250,000, but there is no such requirement for K-12 schools,” the FDD says. The bipartisan law sets a reporting threshold of just $10,000, and includes K-12.
It was designed carefully to cover Qatar, which simultaneously pretends to be a quasi-U.S. ally and funds the terror group Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, known by the acronym “Hamas.”
The law includes nations listed by the federal government as adversaries, “countries of particular concern,” or “special watch list countries.” It also includes any country run by a “monarchy, which has a sovereign wealth fund with a board of directors that includes the monarch or a member of his or her family, and which shares a border” with a country in one of the previous categories.
As in most states, Georgia’s governor does not need to sign a bill for it to become a law; the governor can just choose not to veto. A signature is a sign of support. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp chose to sign this.
The interview with Esther is fascinating and powerful. Listen now. Paid subscribers: Keep an eye on your inbox for edited, annotated, hyperlinked transcripts. And submit feedback:
How Qatar keeps getting away with this...ugh. I really enjoyed hearing from the terrific Esther Panitch. What a wonderful state representative, doing great work in the face of hateful threats. For all the oxygen-sucking insanity in higher ed, K-12 needs more attention.