The Department of Justice is requiring that an affiliate of the Qatari-funded news network Al Jazeera register as a foreign agent, in a move that came the same week the White House orchestrated the signing of a historic deal between Israel and Qatar’s rival, the United Arab Emirates.
Jay Bratt, chief of the department’s counterintelligence and export control section, said in a Sept. 14 letter first reported on by Mother Jones that Al Jazeera’s Washington-headquartered digital outlet, AJ+, acts “at the direction and control” of Qatar and engages in “political activities” on its behalf. As "an agent of the Government of Qatar," Bratt said the outlet should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
