Rabbi David Wolpe, former faculty fellow at Harvard and one of the most respected Jewish thinkers in America, is speaking out—bluntly—about what he sees as a deepening crisis in American education. His target? The entanglement of elite institutions with foreign money and ideology, particularly from Qatar.
On Campus Protests: “This Was All Organized”
Wolpe doesn’t buy the narrative that recent campus protests were entirely grassroots. He points to telltale signs of coordination:
“Same brand of expensive tents, handbooks found afterwards—this was all organized.”
Qatar’s Deep Reach: “A Mafioso Family”
But his sharpest warnings come not about student unrest—but about foreign money shaping institutions from the top down.
When Wolpe questioned then-Harvard President Claudine Gay about Qatari funding, her answer stunned him:
“She said, ‘We only take money from families.’
And I said, ‘The family that rules Qatar is a family like a mafioso family—not like your family or mine.’”
It’s not just universities. Wolpe warns that the influence campaign stretches well beyond higher education:
“They bring K–12 teachers to Qatar, business class, all expenses paid, give them teaching modules, and send them home.”
More Than Antisemitism: “A Large Anti-Western Movement”
While much of the public outrage around recent events has focused on antisemitism, Wolpe sees a broader, more strategic effort underway:
“It is a large anti-Western movement… If you can push your ideology at Harvard and Oxford, you’ve captured the Golden Fleece.”
On Solutions: “Transparency Is Long Overdue”
Wolpe supports new efforts to track and disclose foreign donations—something that, on paper, was already required:
“Foreign donation reporting was already a requirement—it just was never observed.”
The problem, he argues, isn’t that we don’t have rules. It’s that elite institutions haven’t felt compelled to follow them—until now.
Curious to hear more? Watch the full episode of Dr. Mayim Bialik’s podcast featuring Rabbi Wolpe for the complete conversation.
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