Qatar Awareness Campaign – Cornell University

October 8, 2014

Elizabeth Garrett
Office of the President
300 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Dear Ms. Garrett:

Congratulations on your recent appointment to President of Cornell University! We hope you take this opportunity to examine Weill Cornell Medical College’s extensive relationship with a state sponsor of terrorism.

This letter is being sent to you on behalf of the Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition. The purpose is to inform you and the public of the activities of Qatar, the country whose capital hosts a campus of Weill Cornell Medical College. Since 2001, the Qatar Foundation has borne all campus development costs associated with Cornell’s campus in Doha’s Education City.

Cornell University, an Ivy League institution, is one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in the nation, and indeed the world. Weill Cornell Medical College, which became affiliated with Cornell in 1998, is one of the most prestigious and selective medical schools.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel this summer, Cornell’s presence in Doha, Qatar came under scrutiny by Jewish organizations. Qatar is an open supporter of the Gaza-based terrorist group, which fired thousands of rockets into Israel in July and August, killing and wounding dozens of innocent Israelis. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center called Cornell’s presence in Qatar “outrageous,” while the Zionist Organization of America called on Cornell and other American universities to “end or suspend their programs in Qatar.”

In light of these events, we urge to you read the information below, which includes evidence that Qatar is arguably the preeminent sponsor of terror in the world today. It is a benefactor of the genocidal armies of ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram; it is involved in Taliban narcotics trafficking through a relationship with the Pakistani National Logistics Cell; and profits from operating a virtual slave state. Qatar has leveraged its relationships with violent jihadi groups to its own benefit, and to the detriment of the United States and her allies.

So the public understands why this letter is addressed to you, Cornell’s past and current activities suggest a growing partnership between Cornell and the terror-friendly Gulf state:

• In 2001, the Qatar Foundation funded an initiative in Doha, the Education City. It welcomed six American universities, Weill Cornell, among them (in 2001), to build campuses in the complex. The Qatar Foundation, which has noted links to terrorism, pays all associated campus development costs.
• In 2004, Bill Clinton and Al Gore both visited Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. In 2013, Qatar donated between $1-$5 mil to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation; also in 2013, Al Gore sold CurrentTV to (Doha-based) Al Jazeera, profiting personally a reported $100 million.
• Despite recent criticism, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar announced in September their intentions to expand their presence, partnering with the Qatari medical company Aspetar for clinical trials and education.
• Sheikh Mohammed Hamad Jassim Al-Thani, MBBChB, the Director of Public Health for the Supreme Council of Health in Doha, Qatar, is on the faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York (since 2011).

The QAC Coalition and petitioners ask that you consider the attached sourced report on Qatar’s activities. The links cited are vetted and credible sources. We hope you take the time to verify the truth of the statements for yourself.

After doing so, the Coalition of the Qatar Awareness Campaign calls on you to exert due influence on the Qatari government to cease any type of involvement in all forms of Islamic terrorism, slavery, and drug trafficking!