Less than a year after opening a Qatari bureau underwritten by the sheikhs in Doha, CNN will co-sponsor a Qatari government confab next week featuring a slew of Israel-bashing Arab officials and spokesmen for America’s enemies.
The Doha Forum is an annual event that claims to bring together foreign leaders to discuss the Middle East and spotlight Qatar’s “well-intentioned” diplomatic efforts. Its theme—”Justice in Action: Beyond Promises to Progress”—reflects the forum’s “mission to foster meaningful dialogue,” according to its executive director, Qatari foreign affairs ministry official Mubarak Ajlan Al-Kuwari. Such dialogue does not include criticism of the Qatari regime or flag, which is criminalized in the Gulf state, as is any online content the regime considers harmful. A Jordanian media manager for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, for example, was sentenced to five years in prison for voicing concern over the regime’s treatment of migrant workers.
The forum’s speakers include Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who has condemned Arab states that normalize relations with Israel. He will be interviewed by CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who said in October that Israeli hostages tortured by Hamas were likely treated better than the average Gazan. Other speakers include Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif; a Saudi professor and “specialist of Saudi-Israel relations,” Abdulaziz Aluwaisheg, who has accused the Jewish state of attempting to “ethnically cleanse” Gazans; Palestinian parliament member Mustafa Barghouti, who has accused Israel of carrying out a “huge genocide” in Gaza; a former U.N. official and “respected public international lawyer” Mona Ali Khalil, who has accused Israel of “xenophobic and racial discrimination amounting to apartheid.” CNN’s United Arab Emirates-based correspondent, Eleni Giokos, will lead a panel on “Global Trade Tensions” sponsored by Qatar’s Ministry of Finance.
Those officials will take the Doha Forum stage for Israel-focused panels like “Iran and the Changing Regional Security Environment,” which is slated to feature Zarif. A summary of the panel asserts that Israel “initiated a war against Iran” when it attacked the country’s nuclear facilities in June, with America’s assistance, describing the 12-day war as an “unprecedented event” that “shattered the regional balance and compelled nations to rethink their security strategies.” It does not mention Iran’s proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, which have carried out relentless attacks on Israeli civilians.
CNN’s sponsorship of the forum comes as the left-wing network plants its flag in Qatar. It announced an expansion to the Hamas-friendly Gulf monarchy in February, establishing an office in Doha’s Media City, where Qatar has provided tens of millions of dollars to incentivize media companies to establish operations there.
CNN did not respond to a request regarding the cost of sponsoring the Doha Forum.
When CNN unveiled its Qatari expansion, it told the Washington Free Beacon that while Qatar would be footing the bill for its Media City “facilities and technical support,” the beating heart of the operation would be an editorially independent “innovative weekly show” aired on CNN International. That show, CNN Creators, premiered last month. Its first episode featured a cast of little-known CNN reporters and producers gallivanting through Doha’s Souq Waqif market, marveling at stray cats, and trying on “traditional Qatari perfume.”
CNN has not labeled the show “sponsored content,” even as Qatar provides funds to build a “purpose-built studio with custom workspaces, designed to enable dynamic content creation and collaborative, spontaneous work among the team,” as CNN described its Doha offices in a recent press release.
This year’s forum will also feature the longtime leader of the pro-Iran lobbying group National Iranian American Council (NIAC), Trita Parsi, who now serves as vice president of the Soros-funded Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He will speak alongside Zarif on the “Iran and the Changing Regional Security Environment” panel.
Other media partners of the event include Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy.
NIAC’s pro-Tehran bent is no secret; the group has worked to block U.S. sanctions targeting Iran and bring scores of Iranian students to U.S. colleges and universities. Parsi, however, has faced accusations of serving not just as an Iranian ally but as an Iranian agent. He filed an unsuccessful libel lawsuit against an Iranian-American human rights activist who leveled the charge in a 2008 article. A federal judge tossed the suit.
“That Parsi occasionally made statements reflecting a balanced, shared-blame approach is not inconsistent with the idea that he was first and foremost an advocate of the regime,” wrote the judge, John D. Bates, then of United States District Court for the District of Columbia. “After all, any moderately intelligent agent for the Iranian regime would not want to be seen as unremittingly pro-regime, given the regime’s reputation in the United States.”
Several advocates for the Iranian regime will join Parsi at the forum, which kicks off on Dec. 6, including Zarif and the disgraced Biden administration Iran envoy Rob Malley.
The Trump administration barred Zarif, who has referred to Jews as “kikes,” from entering the country in 2020 over his support for terrorist groups in the Middle East. Malley, for his part, had his security clearance pulled in 2023 for mishandling classified information as he was attempting to restart diplomacy with Iran. Malley was later placed on indefinite leave. After vacating his government post, he accepted teaching gigs at Yale and Princeton.
