In a letter obtained by Politico and addressed to members of Congress, Republican Senator Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) cited Misbar as being "part of Qatar’s impressive network of media outlets over which it exercises significant influence or complete control."
In his letter, Bergman criticized the Qatari government for what he called the “non-denials” of the Qatari embassy in Washington. This response was in reference to a report by the American Fox News network, citing “private” documents, alleging Qatar's plans to use spy devices to “target” Republican Senator Ted Cruz (State of Texas) and other legislatures. Bergman called on his fellow members of Congress to build a coalition of Democrats and Republicans to deal with the “unique threat” he believes Qatar poses to American national security.
Bergman said, “Rather than deal with the substance of the reporting, the Embassy instead resorted to ad hominem attacks and non-denials regarding their well-documented history of engaging in hacking and spying on Americans who have criticized Qatar." He stated that the Qatari embassy tried to “discredit and threaten” Benjamin Weinthal, the Fox News correspondent who contributed to preparing the report. In addition, the embassy stated that Weinthal had “previously been identified by other international media outlets as part of a coordinated anti-Qatar campaign spanning many years.”
Clarification by Misbar
To begin with, Misbar clarifies that the reference to the Fox News correspondent Benjamin Weinthal was not linked to the Fox News report mentioned in the congressman’s letter about possible espionage operations against American politicians. Instead, it occurred in August 2020 when Fox News published a report, prepared by the same correspondent, stating that Qatar was involved in financing the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The investigation published by Misbar at the time indicated that the report relied on a single anonymous source for its information and lacked any documents. Misbar stated, based on open-source information and known sources, that Mr. Weinthal had previously made distorted allegations against Qatar. Thus, the inclusion of Misbar in Mr. Bergman's current case was inaccurate, as Misbar did not publish any material on its website or social media pages regarding the recent Fox News report, hacking, censorship operations, or Mr. Weinthal.
Moreover, Misbar’s statement at the time, indicating that Mr. Weinthal had made distorted allegations against Qatar, was not derived from a political position or private documents. Instead, it relied entirely on information available in open sources accessible to anyone, as well as on Mr. Weinthal’s journalistic works published publicly on media platforms.
At that time, Misbar relied on two main sources, the first was an investigation issued by the Associated Press, which Congressman Mr. Bergman praised for its credibility in his letter. This investigation revealed financial donations and conferences held under the auspices of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, of which Mr. Weinthal is a research fellow. The purpose was to pressure American lawmakers into legislating laws targeting Qatar.
The second source was an opinion article published by Mr. Weinthal in the American magazine Newsweek on October 28, 2020. The article, titled “America should not sell F-35 fighter planes to the Qatari regime,” emphasized the need for increased caution in dealing with Qatar. Weinthal stated that Qatar 'pursues a regional strategy that is hostile to the State of Israel' and has a bias toward 'some anti-Western groups.' This concern was particularly highlighted given Qatar's hosting of the largest American military facility in the Middle East.
Thus, Misbar emphasizes that its editorial methodology in various investigations and reports is based on the highest journalistic standards. As a fact-checking platform, it aims to remain unbiased towards any individual, institution, or country. The platform relies on information sourced from official documents or entities with high reliability.
