Qatari Foreign Agents Secretly Paid $250K for PBS Documentary
24th June 2024
Qatar, the oil-rich gulf monarchy that harbors Hamas and other terrorist groups, has used a number of conduits to influence unwitting American audiences: tens of millions of dollars in funding for universities, think tanks, military museums, and alleged bribes to prominent members of Congress. Add PBS documentaries to the list.
A Qatari-backed front group, Yemen Crisis Watch, paid $250,000 to travel journalist Burt Wolf from September 2017 to January 2018 for a documentary about the war in Yemen that aired on PBS affiliates, according to previously unreported filings with the Department of Justice. The documentary was part of Qatar’s sprawling propaganda operation against two adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to federal prosecutors.
In the 30-minute documentary, Doug Watts, a longtime Republican operative who founded Yemen Crisis Watch, touts the organization as “all about raising awareness” about humanitarian issues in Yemen stemming from a war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition. Wolf ends the show with a rebuke of Westerners for failing to heed the message of religious leaders Jesus, Moses, and Buddha in relation to Yemen. “When you think about what’s going on in places like Yemen, you’ve got to wonder why people are not getting their message,” said Wolf, who has produced thousands of travel shows for CNN, ABC, and public broadcasting.