Israel Matzav

'Our friends the Saudis' threaten the United States

On the day after the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Turki al-Faisal, the former ambassador to the United States of the country that raised and nurtured all but one of the 9/11 hijackers, is threatening Saudi relations with the United States in the event that the US vetoes the unilateral declaration of a 'Palestinian state' in the UN Security Council.

The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people.

Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy. Like our recent military support for Bahrain’s monarchy, which America opposed, Saudi Arabia would pursue other policies at odds with those of the United States, including opposing the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq and refusing to open an embassy there despite American pressure to do so. The Saudi government might part ways with Washington in Afghanistan and Yemen as well.

How does this two-bit 8th century Kingdom, artificially created by the British 100 years ago, come off threatening the United States of America? Because Barack Hussein Obama is a 97-pound weakling.

Even Israeli officials have recently admitted privately to their European counterparts that only Saudi Arabia will be able to give the Palestinians the required religious, political and financial legitimacy they need to complete a deal with Israel.

But the Saudis failed to do that in 2000, when Yasser Arafat said he would not be the leader who would give away the Temple Mount. The Saudis failed to back him then. Why would anyone trust them to do so today?

Saudi Arabia had earmarked over $2.5 billion in aid to the Palestinian Authority since June 2009, making it by far the largest single supporter of the Palestinian cause. But this money will not do much good until Palestinians are granted their fundamental rights.

But most of that money has not reached the 'Palestinians' and it never will. The Saudis talk big, but carry a small stick.

Ten years ago next month, then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani did the right thing by declining $10 million from al-Faisal's cousin, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this [terrorist] act. There is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people."

Prince Alwaleed gave the mayor a check after a Thursday morning memorial service at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the attacks.

The prince offered his condolences to the people of New York, but after the ceremony he released a statement suggesting the United States "must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack."

"The check has not been deposited. The Twin Towers Fund has not accepted it," Giuliani said in a statement late Thursday.

The prince's statement said the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause.

"While the U.N. passed clear resolutions numbered 242 and 338 calling for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip decades ago, our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek," the statement said.

Giuliani flatly rejected the prince's position. "To suggest that there's a justification for [the terrorist attacks] only invites this happening in the future," he said. "It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous.

"And one of the reasons I think this happened is because people were engaged in moral equivalency in not understanding the difference between liberal democracies like the United States, like Israel, and terrorist states and those who condone terrorism.

"So I think not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem," Giuliani said.

Some things ought not to be for sale. American integrity is one of them.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Turki al-Faisal, Unilateral declaration of independence (UDI)

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:23 PM