WOMEN'S
EUROPEAN & AMERICAN
DESIGNER
Hypocrisy Rules
In Saudi Ties
New York/JTA
K
ing Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
was stunned at the hostile
reception he received during
a recent visit to London. It seems our
British friends are much more attuned
than we to the nefarious role the Saudis
continue to play in financing and
fomenting terror.
As Middle East policymakers and
experts focus their efforts on Iraq, Iran,
Israel and the Palestinians, the nation
that is best described as the epicenter
for terror continues to fly under the
radar screen, at
least in the United
States.
Saudi Arabia
has deftly played
its oil trump card
while putting
on its payroll an
army of former
U.S. diplomats
who shamelessly
patrol the cor-
ridors of power
trying to convince
us that the king
is our most reliable ally in the war on
terror.
Rendered virtually irrelevant is a
nasty bill of particulars:
• Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, mass
murderers were products of the king-
dom and funded with Saudi money;
• More than half of the foreign terror-
ists attacking and killing our troops in
Iraq are from Saudi Arabia;
• Saudi textbooks still preach anti-
West and anti-Semitic hatred, trumpet-
ing as gospel the blasphemous Protocols
of the Elders of Zion;
• The Saudis relentlessly finance
mosques and schools the world over
that bellow deadly extremist ideology;
• U.S. law enforcement officials have
publicly aired their frustration at the
continued financing of terrorist groups,
despite repeated requests to the Saudis
to put the enablers out of business;
• The Saudis' fail to prosecute known
sponsors and benefactors of terrorism.
The U.S. Treasury Department has
been extremely frustrated at our sup-
posed ally, noting with contempt the
great divide between Saudi promises
and Saudi action. The terms most used
to describe Saudi efforts in the war on
terror: "passive,""disengaged,""little or
no progress" and "foot dragging."
While certain baby steps have been
taken, they amount to no more than a
drop in the bucket compared to what
the Saudis have been implored to do.
Simmering Concern
While the Bush administration will
in no way hold Saudi feet to the fire,
some on Capitol Hill are fed up. Enter
U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and
Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Anthony
Weiner, D-N.Y., who have introduced the
Saudi Arabia Accountability Act in their
respective chambers.
The legislation demands that Saudi
Arabia close any entity engaged in fund-
ing or facilitating terror, and to cooper-
ate with American efforts. Failure to
do so will trigger a series of sanctions,
including restrictions on arms sales.
The Saudi initiative is one of the most
important pieces of legislation pend-
ing on the Hill. It should be high not
only on the pro-Israel agenda, but on
America's national security agenda as
well. Indeed, one can make a strong case
that it deserves to be the legislative cen-
terpiece of the war on terror.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that
terrorist attacks need not be of Sept. 11
magnitude to have a devastating and
deadly impact. The less-sophisticated
operations carried out by "homegrown"
fanatics are just as capable of wreaking
havoc. Just ask the Brits and Spaniards;
both have felt the wrath of bombings
perpetrated by young Islamic terrorists
who were inspired by the poison spew-
ing from Saudi-supported mosques and
schools.
The White House and State
Department, of course, will never
endorse this initiative, trotting out the
disingenuous mantra that the Saudis
are needed in our fight against the bad
guys. Never mind that the kingdom and
their American hired guns all along
have been assuring us that the Saudis
will stand shoulder to shoulder with us
— the empirical evidence proves the
contrary.
While the Saudis talk a good game, it
would be the height of naivete to expect
that they will undertake any of the seri-
ous measures we have been urging for
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years.
Odds are the legislation proffered by
Specter, Widen and Weiner will die on
the vine, never making it out of com-
mittee; I'm afraid the Saudi lobby will
win this battle easily. Indeed, similar
legislation in recent years has gone
nowhere, even when there was the hard-
est of evidence proving that the Saudi
government was paying the families of
suicide murderers and directly support-
ing Hamas.
Foot Dragging
One reason for the past failure was
the lack of a concerted, unified push
by the legendary pro-Israel lobby. The
silence sent a clear message to Congress:
This was not a matter of importance to
the Jewish community.
This time, only the Zionist
Organization of America has endorsed
and will lobby for the Saudi account-
ability measure. Unfortunately, it prob-
ably will be virtually alone in this fight.
Jewish organizations would do well to
remember that it was a losing battle
— over the sale of AWACS planes to the
Saudis 25 years ago — that for all prac-
tical purposes put it on the map.
Some battles must be fought because
it simply is the right thing to do. Taking
the Saudis to task for being the hub of
terrorism is one of those battles.
Unless and until sinister activities
engaged in, tolerated and effectively
endorsed by Saudi Arabia are chal-
lenged head on, the war on terror is not
much more than an exercise of putting
our heads in the sand. The sources of
financing must be dried up and the ide-
ology of hatred must be destroyed. The
Saudis have the power and the ability to
make this happen. Until now, they have
demonstrated a decisive lack of will.
The question is whether the pro-
Israel community has the guts to take
on this vital battle in an effort to make
the Saudis see the light. Regrettably, if
past is prologue, don't bet on it. ❑
Neal Sher, a New York attorney, previ-
ously served as director of the Justice
Department's Office of Special Investigations
and as executive director of the American
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ALE
TENDER
271 WEST MAPLE
DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM
248.258.0212
Israel Public Affairs Committee. He can be
reached at: nealsher@gmail.com .
SUNDAY 12-5
MONDAY—SATURDAY 10-6
THURSDAY 10-9
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January 17 • 2008
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