A new report from The Sunday Times alleges that Qatar offered FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) with nearly $900 million to host the 2022 World Cup.
According to the report, Qatar funneled $400 million through an Al Jazeera broadcasting contract to FIFA just before FIFA announced in 2010 that Qatar would be hosting the 2022 World Cup, which included a $100 million bonus if Qatar hosted the World Cup. Qatar then offered FIFA with another payment of $480 million three years later, per the report.
The Times report also states that these alleged payments are part of a bribery investigation by Switzerland’s law enforcement authorities. FIFA said in a statement to the BBC that they “will continue to co-operate with the authorities” on the matter.
Al Jazeera is funded by the Qatari government; Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called Al Jazeera “a major exporter hate against the Jewish people, Israel, and the United States” in an August op-ed in The Hill.
“Al Jazeera also routinely glorifies violence against Israeli Jews, regularly calling Palestinians killed in the act of trying to murder Israelis as ‘martyrs,’” Greenblatt wrote.
The Qatari government itself has provided financial support for terror groups like Hamas and al-Qaeda.
