Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) shocked his Republican colleagues on Thursday with his aggressive defense of Qatar during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on campus antisemitism — comments that stand in stark contrast to his characterization in 2019 of Qatar as a supporter of terrorism whose relationship with the United States should be reviewed.

At Thursday’s hearing, questioning witness Charles Asher Small, the director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Marshall lauded Qatar as a strong ally for helping to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas and for helping to evacuate U.S. allies from Afghanistan in 2021.

He accused Small, who drew connections between Qatari funding and anti-Israel and antisemitic activity on college campuses, of “prejudice” for noting Qatar’s relationships with Hamas, the Taliban and the Iranian regime. Marshall also called Qatar “a great ally to America.”

Marshall denied that there had been “large antisemitic riots or protests” at Virginia Commonwealth University or Carnegie Mellon University, which have received Qatari funding.

At VCU, there had in fact been clashes between police and demonstrators that prompted multiple arrests and the police dismantling an anti-Israel encampment.

At Carnegie Mellon, there were multiple protests that local Jewish media described as antisemitic, which prompted changes to the college’s protest rules.

The senator also suggested that there had not been issues at Texas A&M University, which has a campus in Qatar, not addressing a report by ISGAP that that partnership may have endangered sensitive nuclear energy and weapons research. Texas A&M abruptly announced plans in February 2024 to shutter its campus in Qatar months after the ISGAP report, though it has denied the two are linked. Texas A&M also saw multiple anti-Israel protests on campus.

Faculty at the Qatar campus had faced professional sanctions for their pro-Israel stances.

Marshall’s description of Qatar as an important ally marks a striking turnaround from his strongly anti-Qatar views just a few years ago, while he was a member of the House.

Marshall described Qatar during a 2019 event as a “bad [actor]” and suggested that reassessing U.S. military support for it “may be long overdue.”

“Its blind eye to terrorism funding in its own borders continues to undermine American security and calls into question the long-term partnership of the U.S.-operated base within the country,” Marshall continued.

At another 2019 event, Marshall said that Qatar’s “well-documented support for terrorism and extremist groups have fueled violence, civil war and bloodshed” and that its “blind eye to the terrorist financing within its own borders continues to undermine American security and calls into question the long-term partnership of the U.S.-operated base within that country.”

Asked about the senator’s about-face, Marshall spokesperson Emily Flower told Jewish Insider, “Consistent with both President Trump’s administration and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Senator Marshall agrees that Qatar has proven itself to be a strong ally to the United States in the Middle East over the last several years.”

In recent years, the Qatari government appears to have made significant outreach to Marshall.

Marshall visited Qatar in 2023 and met with the Qatari emir, at which time he said he was “grateful for [Qatar’s] warm friendship and our strategic partnership in the Gulf region” and praised the country’s business development and relationships with the United States, according to Qatari media. 

Marshall’s office did not clarify who paid for that trip.

Marshall met with Qatar’s prime minister in Washington in 2024, leading a meeting with a group of Republican senators — some of whom remain fierce critics of the Qatari government. 

Disclosures through the Foreign Agents Registration Act first published by the Washington Examiner also show that lobbyists for Qatar repeatedly communicated with Marshall’s longtime chief of staff, including to invite him on a March 2022 trip to Qatar, as well as providing the office information on Qatar’s role in the evacuation of Afghanistan and Qatar’s role in hostage talks.

Jewish Insider’s congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed reporting.