Qatar pumps billions into Italy’s universities: Investing in terrorism in heart of Europe
Qatar has worked to spread its terrorist agenda for several
years in various ways, including directly promoting terrorism, investing in the
educational system, social welfare and mosques to spread and promote its
extremist ideas, and supporting groups loyal to its policies and approaches
that aim to penetrate countries’ domestic affairs.
Old files
Within the framework of agreements concluded between Rome
and Doha in the educational and research fields since 2012, the Italian parliament
ratified the last agreement on May 27, 2020, which opened the file of relations
with Qatar and its sponsorship of a very radical version of Islam linked to the
ideology of the Brotherhood.
Overwhelming rejection
This agreement sparked widespread rejection in Italy due to
Qatar’s suspicious background in supporting terrorism and extremist ideas, its
relations with terrorist groups, its work to spread extremism around the world,
and its known attempts to pour this poison into other societies and improve its
image. This agreement opens the doors of Italian education to extremism and the
ideology of the Brotherhood, which is sponsored by Qatar.
Italian journalist Giulio Meotti expressed his
dissatisfaction in an article regarding the Italian parliament’s ratification of
the bilateral agreement between Rome and Doha allowing the facilitation of opening
Qatari schools in Italy. “Politicians in Italy are blind to matters related to
Qatar and its roles in the Middle East,” he said.
Italian criticism
Qatar and Italy have witnessed a close relationship in
recent years that has allowed for the signing of more than 36 agreements in
various fields, in addition to the arms deals signed in 2018, which sparked
great criticism and condemnation among the Italian opposition, who called for
the need to stop Doha’s interference.
The Italian newspaper Centro Studi Machiavelli pointed out
that this agreement could pollute the standards of Italian education, as it is
based on the exchange of students and university education, the possibility of
funding scholarships, establishing university cooperation, and teaching Arabic
in Italy, especially as the Qatari regime hosts Youssef al-Qaradawi, a major
supporter of terrorism who justifies what ISIS is doing in Syria. It also
condemned Qatar’s support for the Brotherhood and other extremists and
terrorists in Syria, the Arab Gulf states and Egypt, adding that Doha is not
fit to be a partner in any kind of cooperation.
Meanwhile, Italian newspaper Secolo Trentino confirmed that
Qatar has strong ties with the extremist Hamas movement, in addition to its
close cooperation with Iran and the Brotherhood since the days of the Khomeini
Revolution and its conviction to Sayyid Qutb’s extremist ideology. If this is Qatar’s
cultural domain, then these agreements for exchanging education open
universities' doors for Doha to spread extremism within Italian society.
Qatar’s shameful infiltration
Giovanni Giacalone, an expert on extremist organizations and
a senior analyst for security, terrorist issues and emergency management at the
Catholic University of Milan, also opposed the educational cooperation between
Qatar and Italy, because it would allow the Brotherhood’s terrorist ideology to
permeate all areas of Italian society.
Giacalone added that Qatar’s presence in Islamic centers in
Italy is nothing new, but its presence in universities and research centers is
a very serious problem, because it warns of Doha’s infiltration and the
penetration of its ideology into Italy’s political and academic circles, even
if the opposition is not united enough to prevent the ratification of the latest
agreement.
Qatar is doing in Italy as it did in the United States, where
it contributed more than $1.5 billion to 28 American universities to spread its
vision of Islam and the extremist ideology of the Brotherhood.
