Northwestern quietly cuts ties with Al Jazeera under pressure from Congress

EVANSTON, IL – Officials at Northwestern University quietly severed ties with Al Jazeera over the summer as controversy escalated over the Qatari media network's criticism of Israel and its ties to Hamas.

A decades-old memorandum of understanding between Al Jazeera and Northwestern was terminated in July, university officials revealed during a recent interview.

The agreement enabled collaborative research, training workshops and internships with Al Jazeera for students at Northwestern's Qatar campus.

The move followed increasing pressure from Republican lawmakers demanding that the university cut its ties to the network.

Northwestern's relations with the Gulf monarchy have been under heightened scrutiny since university President Michael Schill was called before the House Education and Workforce Committee in May to testify about the school's handling of anti-Israel demonstrations on the Evanston campus.

In a June 21 letter to Schill, a quartet of Republican committee members called for an immediate end to Northwestern's partnership with Al Jazeera, accusing the network of spreading “pro-Hamas propaganda” and “having members who are terrorists.”

The letter cited several reports linking Al Jazeera journalists to Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist group by the United States and its allies and has ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades.

These include claims that an Al-Jazeera journalist was a “commander of Hamas' anti-tank missile unit,” that another was a deputy commander of a Hamas platoon, and that a freelance journalist published by Al-Jazeera was at his family's home held hostages.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Al Jazeera has been linked to terrorists or terrorist organizations,” said U.S. Reps. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee), Jefferson Van Drew (R-New Jersey) and Elise Stefanik (R-New York) said in the letter, which gave Northwestern until July 19 to respond.

“It is unacceptable for an American university that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding annually to collaborate with organizations whose members are terrorists or whose reporting promotes on behalf of terrorist organizations,” they said.

Al Jazeera has reported extensively on the ongoing conflict, including reports of casualties and Hamas activity, which has drawn repeated criticism from Israeli government officials.

Last month, Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera's West Bank office and ordered it closed. According to the Associated Press, it was the first time Israel has shut down a foreign news outlet within its borders.

The channel later aired footage that appeared to show Israeli forces tearing down a banner in its offices depicting Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

Israeli officials, including Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, accused the network of being a mouthpiece for Hamas and Hezbollah, while the Foreign Press Association raised concerns about the impact of the military crackdown on press freedom.

Northwestern still operates a campus in Education City, Qatar, which is 100 percent funded by the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit organization led by the emirate's ruling family. The current contract with the foundation expires in June 2028.

According to a Daily Northwestern investigation earlier this year, students at the university's Qatari campus, known as “NU-Q,” pay the same tuition of nearly $70,000 a year and receive the same degree, but face a very different one educational environment.

The university's memorandum of understanding with Al Jazeera was announced by Al Jazeera's then director general, Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of the Qatari ruling family. He then became economics minister for the monarchy, which has a population of three million people in which more than 88 percent of people have no citizenship rights.

“Al Jazeera Network places developing the capabilities of its team at the top of its priorities to compete with the great media achievements that Qatar has achieved at the regional and international levels,” the Sheikh said when announcing the memorandum amid the planning of his failed Al brand Jazeera America.

As part of the agreement, students studying journalism at NU-Q were given the opportunity to complete residency programs for the state news network.

The end of the memorandum of understanding was first reported Tuesday by the website Campus Reform.

A university spokesperson told The Daily that despite the end of its contract with Al Jazeera, NU-Q will continue to offer its journalism students “robust opportunities” to work with “many media, strategic communications and other agency partners.”

Everette Dennis, then-dean and CEO of the university's Qatar-funded project, said the collaboration would help students learn about public relations, digital media and documentary filmmaking, in addition to working on a network's news channel with one of the world's largest teams Journalists.

“This makes Al Jazeera a place of great interest to anyone who wants to understand the world’s media ecosystem,” Dennis said, “and to Northwestern students and alumni who will go on to work in the media industry.”

Related: