June 15, 2004.
Note of Likud of Holland: Arab leaders try to convince the world that even for
Muslim-fundamentalist terror attacks the Jews are to blame …. how distorted can you be?
Last month, an attack on contractors at the Saudi oil facility in Yanbu killed six
Westerners, two of them Americans. Senior Saudi officials told the world
al-Qaida terrorists were to blame and al-Qaida claimed responsibility.
But tape obtained by NBC News reveals that, inside Saudi Arabia, on Saudi
television, Crown Prince Abdullah told a strikingly different story about who
was to blame.
NBC News translated Abdullah’s remarks from Arabic: “Zionism is behind it. It
has become clear now. It has become clear to us. I don’t say, I mean… It is not
100 percent, but 95 percent that the Zionist hands are behind what happened.”
Other senior Saudi officials reaffirmed the claim that supporters of Israel
‘Zionists’ “were behind the terror attacks”.
Prince Nayef, the Saudi Interior Minister said, “Al-Qaida is backed by Israel and
Zionism.”
Some call this dangerous Saudi doubletalk. “The crown prince’s statements are
inflammatory and irresponsible,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “On the one
hand they say reassuring words to American leaders, but on the other hand
they spout inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric for their domestic population.”
Monday, a report by the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations said such
statements undermine efforts to “change the mindset that foments extremism”
and undercut otherwise “significant improvement” in Saudi efforts against
al-Qaida.
For example, in the last year, the Saudis have waged sometimes daily
gun battles against al-Qaida cells, passed new anti-terror financing laws and
cracked down on charities helping fund bin Laden.
But the report complains that members of the Saudi elite who have allegedly
financed al Qaida remain free and unpunished, including Yassin al Qadi
“specially designated as a global terrorist by the U.S. Treasury Department.”
According to William Wechsler, former National Security Council member
and co-author of the Council on Foreign Relations report, “They have yet to
arrest or incarcerate anybody publicly. And if you don’t take those actions then
you can’t have deterrence.”
A Saudi spokesman claims that five men have been prosecuted for funding
terrorism “they just weren’t publicly named.”
As for the alleged Saudi doublespeak, a Saudi official in the United States
defends the remarks, arguing that Zionists and others who argue for regime
change in Saudi Arabia “share the same objective as Osama bin Laden.”
