The international media conglomerate Al Jazeera has long operated as a Qatari publicity agent, producing content that consistently reflects the emirate’s pro-Islamist, anti-American outlook. But when the U.S. Justice Department, spurred on by Russian election interference, began cracking down on foreign propaganda machines, Qatar responded soon after by dumping Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s controlling stake in Al Jazeera. By all appearances, this restructuring represents nothing more than a clumsy ploy, and the emir may have ceded control of the media giant purely to flout American laws governing foreign agents.

In practice, Al Jazeera continues to act as Qatar’s alter ego, zealously advancing the emirate’s pro-Islamist agenda. While Doha serves as a safe haven for jihadist field commanders from the Taliban and Hamas, Al Jazeera English programming is replete with Jewish-power conspiracies and terrorism apologias. AJ Plus, the network’s slick online video content platform, produces the same anti-American and anti-Semitic subject matter but with a militantly progressive slant.