Qatar, Palestinians hiring lobbying firms ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Qatar, Palestinians hiring lobbying firms

Squire Patton Boggs has signed on to do Congressional outreach for the Palestine Monetary Authority.

It will especially focus on members of the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, and Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees, according to the engagement letter.

SPB also will provide PMA and the Association of Banks in Palestine with strategic guidance relating to reputational risk and recommendations on PMA’s in-person visits to Washington.

The one-year engagement, which kicked off July 1, is worth $500K to SPB. The contract automatically renews for another year.

The PMA operates under the authority of the Palestinian Authority and its head is appointed by Mahmoud Abbas. Which means that the PA gets money from the West in order to lobby for more money from the West.

Also from O'Dwyer's:

A leading West Bank businessman has hired Montreal’s Dickens & Madson to lobby the governments of the US, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt and the European Union to back his effort to become leader of the post-invasion government of Gaza.

Samir Hulileh, who heads Palestine Development and Investment Ltd., inked a one-year $300K pact with D&M. The initial $100K retainer was paid on Feb. 20.

The 68-year-old, who served in the cabinet of the Palestinian Authority, envisions a Gaza with a political structure approved by the United Nations, Arab League and Palestinian Authority.

I cannot find any articles about Samir Hulileh since he paid for these services, which means that I am now giving him more publicity than his firm did. Send me the check, Samir!

Finally, one more:

William Bennett, the nation's first drug czar and third Secretary of Education, has signed a $180K contract with Qatar’s DC embassy to help develop a communications strategy related to the Gulf State’s funding of US colleges.

Qatar is the biggest foreign donor to US universities since 1986, shelling out $6.3B.

Top US schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Weill Cornell Medical Colleges, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University and Virginia Commonwealth University have established branch campuses in Qatar.

Bennett will promote understanding of the funding decisions make by the Qatari government and the nature of the education curriculum, according to his FARA filing.

As senior education advisor to the Embassy, the 82-year-old will make “efforts to publicize the fact that Qatari higher education efforts do not support radical Islamicist movements or positions, and his engaging in publicized efforts—potentially including communications to U.S. political office holders—would help dispel contrary notions."

He will write op-eds, blogs on educational matters and make himself available for interviews or testimony before Congress.

Bennett placed an opinion piece on Fox News last July that was titled “An American education partnership in Qatar brings surprising benefits to the Middle East.”

Not a bad gig - write an op-ed, get $180K, and a new generation of college students learn to hate Israel.

(h/t BL)