US: Qatar spreads terrorist ideology, tolerant of its funding

A subcommittee of the US House of Representatives along with experts, provided a detailed analysis of the current Qatar crisis.

Most speakers cited contradictions in its policies, describing them as an environment that tolerates and supports terrorism and its financing.

The US House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on the Middle East and North Africa discussed Qatar's foreign policy and Doha's support for terrorism.

The head of the Republican Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, described Qatar as a tolerant environment with the financing of terrorism. Saying that Doha funded terrorist organizations in the world, as well as many extremist groups in Syria.

Lehtinen quoted Katherine Bauer, a veteran Treasury official that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sought to push Doha to take action against the financiers of terrorism, but that has not happened.

Democratic Sen. Theodore Deutch described the crisis as a dispute over Qatar's financial support of deeply troubling groups.

Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a written testimony to the subcommittee that Qatar has openly supported terrorist groups.

He added that this support for terrorist groups is worrying with the presence of an American base in Qatar and described this contradiction as crazy.

Matthew Levitt, of the Washington Institute, expressed concern that Doha was providing a platform for extremists to spread their ideology through Al Jazeera.