Qatari Outlet Posing as American Accuses Israelis of “Colonizing the World”
Uncivilized Media, whose viral video critics say put a target on Israelis’ backs, initially presented itself as U.S.-based before shifting its listed location to Qatar after an online investigation.
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Last week, a slickly produced YouTube documentary called “How Israelis Are Colonizing the World” racked up nearly half a million views in seven days. More, in its first week, than most documentaries on the topic receive in a year. It argues, without irony, that Israeli backpackers in India, tourists in Thailand, and middle-class families moving to a depopulated valley in northern Italy are all expressions of the same “settler-colonial project.” Israelis, the film argues, are not just settlers in Israel — they are colonizing the world.
The video does not limit itself to attacking Israeli policy or the government. It widens the category until Israelis abroad, as such, can be cast as a threatening collective. That is what has made the film so inflammatory to critics, and so potent as shareable propaganda.
The YouTube channel behind it, Uncivilized Media, has 441,000 subscribers and presents itself as a Western youth-media outlet. The logo, tone, cinematography, and pacing all suggest an American product. But the public record tells a different story.
Behind the Branding, a Different Story
According to an investigation by Ella Kenan, Uncivilized Media is linked to Qatar. The channel’s YouTube page listed its location as the United States, while its LinkedIn page listed its headquarters in Ramallah. Since Kenan’s reporting, the YouTube channel’s own About page has been updated to list its location as Qatar. The same page describes its storytelling as rooted in “activism and community building” aimed at inspiring “collective action.”
That detail matters, as Qatar, with its strict media laws forbidding media operations within its jurisdiction that the ruling Al-Thani family opposes, is well documented. A production company registered inside a Qatari state media ecosystem is not editorially accidental, nor entirely independent.
Who Runs Uncivilized Media?
The central figure repeatedly identified across the reporting is Salem Barahmeh, the founder and creative driver behind Uncivilized. As Elder of Ziyon documents, Barahmeh has served as an advisor to Hanan Ashrawi at the PLO Executive Committee, worked with the Palestine Investment Fund, staffed the Palestinian Mission to the United States, and founded the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, an organization whose stated mission is training journalists in how to write about Israel.
He later worked at Portland Communications in London as a policy and public affairs advisor to Gulf governments, the same firm the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported as outsourcing paid Wikipedia editing for the state of Qatar.
As Jewish Onliner previously reported, at least one Uncivilized Media founder previously worked for both Qatari-run Al Jazeera and the Doha Film Institute. Uncivilized LLC appears on the partner directory of Media City Qatar, a state-backed media hub in Doha.
This is not a scrappy Gen-Z collective making YouTube essays from a garage, as the channel appears to portray itself. Rather, it is an experienced operation, led by a professional communicator with a decade-plus career across PLO diplomacy, Palestinian soft-power institutions, Gulf-state PR, and now Qatari-registered media production.
The Mamdani Follow
The channel’s visibility has also drawn political attention in the United States. According to several online observers, the channel’s Instagram page was followed by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who subsequently unfollowed it once the “Israelis Are Colonizing the World” video drew significant blowback.
Viewers Deserve to Know
Viewers encountering Uncivilized Media through a viral video should not be left with the impression that this is simply a spontaneous, homegrown youth channel challenging conventional narratives.
The available reporting paints a far more consequential picture. A Qatar-linked media project, led by figures based in Doha, is using polished English-language activism to circulate a message that places Israelis everywhere under threat.
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