THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 20, January 18, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHAT INFLUENCE DOES SAUDI MONEY BUY
By Asaf Romirowsky
AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION & THE PROBLEM OF ARRIVING AT A FAIR & BALANCED DISCUSSION RELATING TO MIDDLE
EAST STUDIES: ARAB DONORS CREATING BASTIONS OF NONCRITICAL, PRO-ISLAMIC "SCHOLARSHIP" INSIDE U.S.
UNIVERSITIES -- SAUDI ARABIA & OTHER ARAB NATIONS FUNDING AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ISLAMIC STUDIES PROGRAMS
WHICH ENDEAVOR TO INDOCTRINATE STUDENTS IN ISLAMIST IDEOLOGY, PROVIDE JUSTIFICATION FOR ISLAMIST
TERRORISM & JIHADISM, & DISSEMINATE ANTI-SEMITIC, ANTI-ISRAELI, PRO-PALESTINIAN PROPAGANDA
FULL STORY:
An Islamic group came to Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last Spring with an offer to provide $1.5 million
for an endowed chair in Islamic Studies to honor Religion Professor Mahmoud Ayoub. After months of talks, the deal
never got off the ground, once trustees and others raised concerns about the contributor, the International Institute of
Islamic Thought, a nonprofit research group that had been under scrutiny as part of a government probe into the funding
of suspected terrorists.
Some would like to consider money given by Saudis and other Arab nations to American universities as generous gifts to
those U.S. universities who have educated their elites. A closer look reveals a different picture that includes incitement,
anti-Semitism, and a skewed view of Islam.
There have been some cases when universities have turned down funds. In July, 2000, the Harvard Divinity School first
accepted $2.5 million from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, to endow an academic
chair in Islamic Religious Studies. However, Rachel Fish, a divinity student at the time and a founding member of Harvard
University Graduate-Students Friends of Israel, raised an uproar, documenting the Sheik's anti-Semitic ties.
The Harvard University administration was forced to face facts and take a closer look at who was offering the funds -- and
why. As a result, the money was not accepted; in 2004, the Sheik withdrew funds.
But this is not the norm. Several years ago, a multimillion gift from the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was shared between
Harvard and Georgetown Universities.
These monetary efforts began in the 1960s and 1970s, with Muslim donors funneling millions of dollars into American
universities to support Islamic Studies, hire faculty specialists in Islam, and fund the writing of books and seminars on the
topic.
Such support represents one of the biggest problems academia faces today -- that is, how to arrive at a fair and balanced
discussion when it relates to Mideast Studies.
A disturbing variable in the equation, which complicates the situation further, is the unwillingness of many American Jews
to take a strong stand on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular, Rabbis and Jewish educators -- no matter where they stand
on the political spectrum -- often behave in an apologetic manner when it comes to Israel, rather than make assertive
arguments from a Zionist point of view.
This unwillingness to confront the pro-Palestinian propaganda being nurtured by Middle Eastern Studies Departments is
one of the major sources of confusion among Jewish students. For example, so long as Liberal American Jews fail to speak
up about the issue of post-1948 Jewish refugees from Arab lands, and, instead, merely allow the discussion to center on a
Palestinian "right of return," Jewish students will be on the defensive.
If pro-Israel advocates on campus are discussing the Jewish state only in terms of "Israeli oppression," rather than in
debunking such notions, the result is always going to favor the anti-Israel forces. That is why college campuses today
have become podiums for those who denigrate Israel, as is apparent from the different human rights, anti-globalization and
anti-imperialism groups that have adopted the Palestinian cause.
Within academic circles, individual views are often turned into a political litmus test. For example, Fouad Ajami, the
articulate interpreter of Arab culture and politics who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, has been subject to scathing
attacks from Arab critics. Ostensibly, these critics find his scholarship faulty. In reality, they see him as too soft on the
question of Israel, and worse, selling out to the enemy.
As we look to educate ourselves and the next generation about Israel and the Middle East, we should question the sheer
amount of cash being offered and the influence these people are thereby buying, creating bastions of noncritical,
pro-Islamic scholarship within academia.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Education & America's Schools
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Asaf Romirowsky is an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum and the Manager of Israel & Middle East Affairs for the
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
The foregoing article by Asaf Romirowsky was originally published in the Jewish Exponent, January 17, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website
maintained by the Middle East Forum, a think tank which seeks to define and
promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for
Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional
democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S.
interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
January 17, 2008
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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