A&M’s President on Qatar allegations: “That’s insanity, It’s irresponsible”

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – One of the negotiators in the Israel-Hamas war is Qatar, and this week the country’s prime minister visited the United States.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told White House officials his country is committed to helping bring a cease-fire in the war, at least long enough for hostages to be freed. A cease-fire would also help bring aid to civilians who are still trapped in some of the war-torn parts of Gaza. In his visit to Washington, the prime minister says if the conflict doesn’t end soon, a wider regional war becomes more likely.

Qatar is also where a Texas A&M campus is located, and A&M’s president this month has had to address what he calls misinformation about the school’s relationship and ties with the Qatari government.

In his first one-on-one interview since accepting the job, President General Mark Welsh sat down with News 3′s Rusty Surette on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Texas A&M was put into the international spotlight following reports from several outlets in early January, including the Jerusalem Post, which referenced a letter from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) to U.S. officials about “alarming research findings exposing Qatar’s unreported and unregulated funding to Texas A&M University,” among other places of higher education with locations in the Middle East.

The organization claimed Qatar had gained control over hundreds of research projects at A&M’s campus that put national security at risk.

A&M President Mark Welch says those behind the claims are misinformed.

“I don’t know if somebody was intentionally lying or not, but the facts weren’t accurate,” he said.

KBTX spoke with ISGAP, and they told us its research found that the Qatari government has questionable and alarming control over A&M’s campus in Qatar and its research, and has asked lawmakers in the United States to look deeper into the matter. President Welsh says it was important that he swiftly respond to their report.

“When some organization accuses you of basically leaking national security secrets on things like nuclear weapons and nuclear engineering to another country, that’s insanity. It’s irresponsible and it’s important that we respond to that. We have a really, really strong track record of protecting national security research information every day and has been recognized by DOD, by the intelligence community, by a number of people, and there are a lot of organizations that help us maintain that,” said President Welsh.

Qatar has also come under fire recently for its relationship with Hamas, including criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accuses the nation of hosting Hamas leaders and funding the organization back on A&M’s campus. We asked President Welch about the university’s future relationship with Qatar as tensions continue to grow in the Middle East.

“I think you are constantly assessing what you do as a global organization all the time. We are constantly talking about what we’re doing on other teaching sites, campuses, and higher education centers within Texas, and so there’s an ongoing conversation that we have with our Board of Regents about that. What’s the benefit, what’s not, what’s what’s the most benefit? Where should we develop a future resource plan? These questions come up all the time, and we’ve been in an ongoing discussion with our board for several months now about this and we’ll continue that again at the board meeting next week and give them another update.