Episode 12: How Qatar gets a free pass for Islamist radicalism, a conversation with Dr. Jonathan Schanzer

Ask Haviv Anything

Haviv Rettig Gur

History

4.9 • 640 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Qatar has just 330,000 citizens but controls vast wealth due to its plentiful natural gas. It has used that wealth to support radical and violent terrorist groups and regimes throughout the Middle East and to wield enormous influence in the West, including among American politicians and universities.In today's episode, I asked Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and host of its Morning Brief podcast, if Qatar really is as bad as Israelis think, and if so, what should be done about it.We discuss Doha's ideological commitments and central role in building Hamas into an organization capable of carrying out the October 7 massacre; how its immense donations to elite American universities helped drive radicalization on campus; and whether the Trump administration is able or willing to hold the Qataris to account.Today’s episode is sponsored by Sapir, the quarterly journal edited by Pulitzer-prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens. If you’re in the US, you can get this wonderful journal of ideas sent to you absolutely free by going to http://sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv. Please use the link. It helps the podcast.On May 15, Sapir are initiating the Sapir Debates, a series of live debates on issues facing the Jewish people. The first debate will take place at 92NY on May 15 at 7 pm. Former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel and former Trump special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt will debate the topic: “Is Donald Trump good for the Jews?”To purchase tickets to the inaugural Sapir debate, go to http://sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody. Welcome to episode 11 of Ask Chaviv Anything.
0:09.6	Today I'm going to be doing the asking.
0:11.6	I have with me Jonathan Shanzer, a friend and expert, a teacher over the years.
0:17.1	And we're going to tackle a question that has come up many times from our Patreon subscribers, but also generally out there and from many audiences.
0:25.1	And Jonathan is really an expert.
0:26.7	We're going to talk about the many tentacles of Qatari financing.
0:30.0	We're going to talk about terror financing generally.
0:32.8	We're going to talk about Iran, not in the context of a nuclear program, will Trump strike, will he not strike, but in the context of a nuclear program will Trump strike will he not strike
0:38.1	but in the context of money the money is sloshing around the money was an
0:43.7	instrument of Qatari influence over Hamas money was something that we saw in
0:48.3	American higher education that helped arguably I would argue this radicalize parts
0:53.1	of American higher education. Money matters.
0:56.3	Can that money be tracked? What can be done about it? Before we get into it, I just want to tell
1:01.3	you our sponsor for this episode and to thank them. Many of you were able to catch our
1:07.5	mini episode just before Pesach, which was sponsored by Saper, the quarterly journal edited by the Pulitzer Prize winning Brett Stevens.
1:16.8	I mentioned that if you're in the U.S., you can get this excellent journal sent to you absolutely free by going to Sapil Journal forward slash Ask Chaviv, which you should still do. It helps us a lot. It tells them we sent you.
1:31.6	But they're also initiating the Sapir debates, which are a series of live debates on issues that face the Jewish people.
1:38.2	The first debate is going to take place at the 92nd Street, Y, in New York on May 15th at 7 p.m.
1:46.5	And it'll be on the very slightly sensitive topic of, is Donald Trump good for the Jews?
1:52.0	They're going right for the throat this time, moderated by Brett Stevens,
1:56.1	featuring former Chief of Staff for President Obama, Ram Emanuel, who is is also, of course, mayor of Chicago, and Jason Greenblatt,
2:04.4	Trump's former envoy to the Middle East.
	...

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