An analysis conducted by researchers at JPPI (the Jewish People Policy Institute) examines the media conduct of one of the key players in the Middle East, Qatar - home to the largest American military base in the region, Al-Udeid Air Base, which the United States uses in its military operations against Iran.
While Qatar publicly presents itself as cooperating with the United States, the English-language network Al Jazeera, which is affiliated with the Qatari regime, together with its digital arm AJ+, which reaches millions of viewers worldwide, has broadcast strongly anti-war messages and has directly and indirectly attacked US President Donald Trump and the U.S. administration.
The analysis examined dozens of opinion columns, articles, and videos in English, published both before and after the outbreak of the war, between January 28 and March 8, 2026. The findings reveal a clear and consistent pattern: criticism of the war is extremely harsh and largely ignores the role played by Gulf states - including Qatar itself - in hosting and defending American military bases.
Some content even argued that the war serves as a distraction from domestic political controversies in the United States, such as the Jeffrey Epstein affair, while others framed the military campaign as illegitimate, illegal, or even linked to broader structures of “white supremacy and capitalism." The study analyzed Al Jazeera’s English-language opinion columns and articles using advanced artificial intelligence tools and sentiment analysis. Researchers compared two periods: before the war, when commentary focused on the possibility of conflict, and after the war had begun.
During the pre-war period (approximately one month), 77.8% of publications were classified as very negative and 5.6% as negative. In total, 89% of the publications expressed negative sentiment toward the war. After the war began, the trend intensified. 85.3% of publications were classified as very negative and 5.9% as negative. Overall, 91.2% of the publications were negative, the vast majority of them strongly so.
The findings were even more pronounced on AJ+, the network’s digital platform. 95.2% of the content analyzed was classified as “very negative" toward the war, including direct personal criticism of President Trump. Among the sampled videos, not a single one presented the war in a positive light or attempted to justify it, and only marginal references were made to Iranian attacks on Gulf states.
Lt. Col. (res.) Or Hurwitz, a Senior Fellow at JPPI, and a former senior officer in Israeli Military Intelligence, stated: “Qatar has experienced firsthand the Iranian threat during the current war. Its longstanding strategy of attempting to ‘live alongside tigers’-pursuing reconciliation while maintaining strategic relationships with terrorist organizations and extremist actors-has not protected it. At the moment of truth, this approach failed to prevent Iran from harming Qatar itself and directly threatening its sovereignty. This development joins the Israeli strike in Doha several months ago, which also demonstrated the limits of Qatar’s attempt to ‘dance at two weddings.’"
“Qatar is an actor driven primarily by survival in a complex regional environment rather than by ideology. The current war may therefore create a unique window of opportunity for a strategic shift in Qatari policy after the conflict. Such a shift could include a harder stance toward Iran and Sunni terrorist organizations, a reassessment of Al Jazeera’s editorial guidelines, and perhaps even gradual changes in Qatar’s posture toward Israel. The path forward is uncertain and complex, but the possibility for change now exists-particularly if it is supported by American engagement and strategic assistance."