Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy says the decision validates concerns raised in its recent report, while underscoring the need for permanent protections against foreign-funded influence operations in schools and universities
NEW YORK, NY — June 9, 2026 — The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) today welcomes the announcement by Qatar Foundation International (QFI) that it has concluded operations after more than 17 years of often nefarious activities within the American education system. Following the announcement, ISGAP calls on Congress to immediately pass the DETERRENT Act and establish basic and essential safeguards against foreign influence in American education, urging Congress to view QFI’s closure not as a solution but as evidence that stronger transparency measures are urgently required to prevent similar foreign influence operations from emerging under different names and structures in the future.
The QFI announcement comes one week after ISGAP published its landmark report, Institutional Capture: Qatar Foundation International: Use of Soft Power to Reshape Education in the United States, which documented for the first time the architecture of QFI’s operational strategy in the US and revealed more than $65 million in funding directed through over 220 educational programs reaching K-12 schools, universities, teacher-training initiatives, federally funded educational centers, and national educator networks across the country, often accompanied by anti-democratic, anti-American, and anti-Christian and anti-Jewish curriculum and messaging.
The $65 million spent by the purportedly US-based QFI, as uncovered by ISGAP, is wrapped into a much broader Qatari strategy that is documented in ISGAP’s research into foreign funding and influence in American education. This includes investigations that revealed billions of dollars in previously undisclosed foreign gifts and contracts to U.S. universities and documented the extensive role of Qatari state-linked entities across higher education, research partnerships, and educational programming.
Dr. Charles Asher Small, Founder and Executive Director of ISGAP, said: “Today should mark the beginning of the end of one of the most extensive and sophisticated anti American, anti-democratic, pro-Muslim Brotherhood foreign influence operations ever embedded within the American education system. While ISGAP welcomes QFI’s closure, it must be understood that the broader network of influence it built remains intact. The lesson here is simple: protecting American education and democratic values cannot depend on the voluntary withdrawal of foreign-funded organizations. The time for voluntary compliance has passed. Congress should seize this moment to pass the DETERRENT Act and ensure that foreign funding and influence in American educational institutions, and throughout our nation, are subject to the transparency and accountability the public deserves.”
Drawing extensively on QFI’s own documents and communications, ISGAP’s QFI report revealed that the organization’s activities extended far beyond Arabic language instruction. According to ISGAP’s findings, QFI positioned itself as a central driver of influence over curriculum development, educator training, university partnerships, national educator networks, and initiatives that shaped how the Middle East was presented in classrooms and educational institutions throughout the United States.
The report detailed what ISGAP described as a systematic effort to scale QFI’s influence nationally, shape educational narratives relating to the Middle East, and cultivate an interconnected ecosystem of educational partners and institutions. It further concluded that QFI functioned not only as a promoter of language and cultural education but also as a significant component of a broader network of educational influence linked to Qatari state interests.
The full report can be accessed here.
ISGAP emphasized that while QFI’s closure is a significant development, it does not address the broader vulnerabilities that enabled foreign-funded influence operations to become embedded within American educational institutions in the first place. ISGAP notes that the networks, partnerships, funding mechanisms, and educational infrastructures documented in its research remain active and warrant continued scrutiny.
Last month, ISGAP was among the leaders of a coalition of 26 major organizations in urging Congressional leadership to pass the DETERRENT Act, legislation designed to strengthen Section 117 reporting requirements for foreign donations and contracts to institutions of higher education, close longstanding gaps in oversight, and ensure that foreign influence in American academia is fully disclosed and subject to accountability.
The legislation, which previously passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, would enhance disclosure requirements, strengthen enforcement mechanisms, lower reporting thresholds, and impose penalties for non-compliance. The Act does not prohibit foreign funding or international academic partnerships. Rather, it seeks to ensure that such relationships are conducted transparently and subject to appropriate oversight.
ISGAP’s call comes amid growing concern over the scale of undisclosed foreign funding in American higher education. Through its Follow the Money Project and related research initiatives, the Institute has documented what it describes as systematic failures to comply with existing federal disclosure requirements, including underreporting and non-reporting of foreign gifts and contracts required under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.