DUBAI: Qatar is a hospitable base for the Muslim Brotherhood and many of the world’s most virulent Islamists, a senior member of prominent Washington-based think tank Security Studies Group said in an opinion article published in the Washington Times.

“Qatar has been the Brotherhood’s most hospitable base of operations…Brotherhood Islamism would soon emerge as Qatar’s de-facto state ideology, as the ruling al-Thani family welcomed the Islamists with lavish funding, the highest state honors, and the establishment of new Islamist institutions that would seek to indoctrinate thousands,” the senior vice president for strategic operations, David Reaboi, wrote.

Reaboi also called out Qatar’s state-owned news channel Al-Jazeera for pushing extremist Islamist ideology, with the Brotherhood playing a “crucial role in programming and setting the editorial line.”

“Even as it claims to be a legitimate, journalistic enterprise, Al-Jazeera is an instrument of power projection for the Qatari regime. Its mission has always been to support Qatar and the Brotherhood while attacking its enemies in the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

“In Arabic, Al Jazeera pushes a stream of vile, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and attempts to rile up religious and extremist Muslims against attempts at positive, human rights reforms in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states,” he added.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and non-GCC member Egypt imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott on Qatar in June 2017 over claims that Doha supports terrorism.