After visiting Qatar with President Donald Trump last week, newly reelected World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder insisted on Monday on the need to engage with the controversial Gulf state to use whatever leverage it has to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and work toward a resolution to the war in Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more generally, despite its past support for terrorism and anti-Israel advocacy.

Speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy on the sidelines of the WJC meeting in Jerusalem, Lauder praised Trump for bringing Middle Eastern countries closer to the United States, which he said would also benefit Israel.

Qatar has faced growing scrutiny and criticism for its support for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, both in direct support to the organizations and general support through its Al Jazeera news network and its donations to American universities. This criticism has also come from within the World Jewish Congress, notably from the newly named head of its Israel region, philanthropist Sylvan Adams, who lambasted Qatar and its support for Hamas at the plenary’s opening gala on Sunday night.

Lauder told eJP that there was no point in dwelling on Qatar’s past actions. Instead, he said, the focus should be on the future. 

“What Qatar did – what anyone did — is in the past. We can’t eliminate what was done in the past. The question is, can Trump and the emir, [Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani] — and I know the emir very well — can Trump and the emir turn things around and make it work? That’s the question,” said Lauder, who was reelected for another four-year term as president of the WJC on Monday. 

Asked if that engagement with Qatar has been effective so far, Lauder refrained from speculating. “I don’t know, but it didn’t hurt,” he said. “What I think that Trump did was open up the entire Middle East to America, and what’s good for America is also good for Israel. That’s the operative message there.”

In addition to his latest visit in Doha with Trump, Lauder — a former U.S. ambassador who often serves as an unofficial diplomat on behalf of world Jewry — has met with Qatari leadership several times since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, largely to advocate for the release of hostages held in Gaza.

In his speech during the plenary session of the WJC, Lauder cited three areas in which Israel and the Jewish people are struggling the most — diplomacy, media and academia — all of which are areas in which Qatar has played a key, negative role over the years. Lauder did not refer to Qatar in his speech specifically, instead citing “our enemies,” whom he said “have invested billions of dollars in a campaign against Israel and the Jews.”

He called for Israel and the Jewish People to focus on these areas going forward, having failed to prepare for them in advance of the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Israel didn’t just have the attack on Oct. 7 — the entire Jewish world was attacked Oct. 8. On Oct. 8, we all expected the world’s support, but we were surprised that much of the world supported Hamas,” he said. 

“Just as Israel failed to anticipate Hamas’ surprise assault, we failed to anticipate the all-out offensive on the mindset of the free world,” Lauder said. 

The WJC president and philanthropist called for the creation of a “special school for diplomacy named after [former Israeli Ambassador] Abba Eban” to train Jewish and Israeli diplomats (in addition to the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Israel’s Reichman University). He also stressed the need for improved hasbara, or public relations. 

And Lauder called for a major effort to remove anti-Israel and antisemitic content and personnel from schools around the world. 

“[Our enemies] began with the takeover of Middle East studies departments in colleges and then expanded, from kindergartens all the way through universities. They also infiltrated think tanks, soft media, as well as many news outlets throughout the world,” Lauder said. “What is needed now is a new project for the Jewish people to educate millions of children, Jewish and non-Jewish. We will have to go school by school to remove the anti-Israel and antisemitic teachers and administrators.”

In his speech, Lauder praised Trump for “withholding federal funds to colleges and universities that refused to protect Jewish students by condoning antisemitism,” drawing tepid applause from the audience.

The WJC gathering was the organization’s first plenary to be held in Israel since 2009. Yet despite its location in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center — a stone’s throw from the Knesset and the government ministries — few elected officials were invited to speak at the event. An exception to that was President Isaac Herzog, who awarded the Medal of Freedom to Lauder on Monday, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who was slated to address the congress on Tuesday afternoon. Some Israeli politicians were also invited to participate in a discussion after the official plenary session ends.

Speaking to eJP, Lauder explained the organization’s decision to largely refrain from inviting Israeli politicians. “We didn’t want this to be people coming and giving speeches. [The attendees] are not interested in that. They’re not interested in local politics. They’re interested in their own countries,” he said.