William Bennett, a former U.S. secretary of education under former President Ronald Reagan, registered in early July as an agent for Qatar, to advocate for the country on education-related issues.

The registration comes as Qatar works to fight back against growing concerns among the pro-Israel community and lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the country’s massive funding of elite U.S. colleges and universities is fueling anti-Israel and antisemitic ideology and activism on campuses.

Bennett, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing first highlighted by analyst Eitan Fischberger, will receive a total of $210,000 over seven months to serve as a “senior education advisor” to the Qatari Embassy to “make efforts to publicize the fact that Qatari higher education efforts to do not support radical Islamicist movements or positions, and his engaging in publicized efforts — potentially including communications to U.S. political office holders — would help dispel contrary notions.”

“The purpose of this engagement is to provide [Bennett] with information relating to American universities offering curriculum in Qatar, to allow him to review and understand funding decisions made by the Qatari government relating to these schools, to promote Western understanding of the nature of these expenditures and the nature of the curriculum, and, most broadly, to promote economic and cultural understanding between Qatar and the United States,” the filing reads.

Bennett, after his time as education secretary, served as drug czar in the George H.W. Bush administration. Currently, he hosts a podcast, “The Bill Bennett Show,” and serves as the chairman of Conservative Leaders for Education, a group that describes itself as “a campaign comprised of leading state lawmakers and education chairs focused on ensuring conservative principles gain traction in state policy decisions as states begin to develop accountability plans under the new Every Student Succeeds Act.”

Bennett did not respond to a request for comment submitted through Conservative Leaders for Education.

The Qatari government pays millions to a vast army of lobbyists to advocate for its interests in Washington.

Bennett wrote in a Fox News op-ed last year, also first highlighted by Fischberger, that claims that Qatari or other foreign funding are connected to antisemitic activity on college campuses are “unfounded, conspiratorial speculation,” and downplayed the scope of Qatar’s involvement in U.S. higher education.

He praised Qatari Sheikah Moza Bint Nasser, the mother of Qatar’s emir who is an outspoken opponent of Israel and has praised the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, as “an impressive Qatari woman.”

“The irony of the false accusations about Qatar’s supposed influence at American universities is that the real foreign influence runs in the opposite direction,” Bennett wrote. “At the Qatari branches of these six American universities there have been no reports of anti-American or antisemitic protests. Some of the main campuses of American universities could learn from their Qatari branches. That would be a better course and a wiser one than denigrating Qatar as it seeks to strengthen its relationship with the United States.”

Recent reporting from the Free Press’ Jay Solomon and Frannie Block concluded that free speech and academic freedom of any kind are suppressed at Qatari campuses of U.S. universities under Qatari law, and that their students have promoted terrorism.

The Free Press also reported that Bennett received two calls from a top Qatari lobbyist days before that op-ed was published.

Bennett has spoken out in the past against antisemitic activity on college campuses, calling it “shameful” that college administrations have failed to adequately respond to antisemitic activity, saying the anti-Israel agitators should be arrested and identified and that colleges should not appease them.

He said that federal funding should be withheld from colleges in response to anti-Israel activity.