MEMRI: Saudi, Syrian, and Palestinian Authority Press Attack
Giuliani and U.S.

Special Dispatch - Terror in America (19)
October 25, 2001
No. 291

When New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected Saudi
prince Al-Walid bin Talal's $10 million donation to New
York City following the latter's comments on what he
referred to as the root causes of the September 11 attacks,
newspaper columnists in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the
Palestinian Authority attacked Giuliani and the United
States:

Mahmoud bin Abd Al-Ghani Sabbagh, columnist for the Saudi
paper Al-Riyadh, wrote a column headlined: "Al-Walid's
check, the homosexual governor [sic], and the propaganda
war": "The words of [Prince Al-Walid] did not, of course,
please the Jewish lobby in the home of the largest Jewish
community in the world. Because the governor [sic] of the
Big Apple is a Jew, he refused [to accept the donation] and
caused a storm."

"Giuliani said: 'The Prince's declarations are grievous and
irresponsible; these Arabs have lost the right to dictate
[to us what to do]. What we (America) must do is kill 6,000
innocent people.'"

"By Allah, I am amazed at your act, you Jew; everything
Prince Al-Walid said was true."

"What happened proves beyond any doubt the public
insolence, the open hatred, and the collapse of American
democratic theory. If democracy means a governor who is a
homosexual in a city in which dance clubs, prostitution,
homosexuality, and stripping proliferate - the U.S. can
keep its democracy."(1)

Dr. Abd Al-Wahed Al-Hamid, also a columnist for Al-Riyadh,
wrote: "Giuliani's act exemplifies the stupidity of a
number of top American officials who repeat the same
mistakes that aroused great animosity towards them, not
only in Arab and Islamic regions, but throughout the world."

"The problem is with Giuliani, not with the declarations of
Prince Al-Walid bin Talal. With his idiotic behavior,
Giuliani denied the victims of the building that collapsed
the aid they need. He sacrificed the public interest for a
private interest, manifested in his desire to draw closer
to the Jewish electorate."

"Doesn't Giuliani know that even some political activists
in 'Israel' are criticizing America's blind support for
Israel?!. They know that the long-term ramifications of
this unbalanced policy will only bring disaster. This is
what Rudolph Giuliani, and all the other Giulianis, must
realize!!"(2)

Joining the attacks on Giuliani were columnists in the
Palestinian Authority mouthpiece Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. Editor
Hafez Al-Barghouthi wrote: "New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani
was obsessed by his hatred of Arabs even before the
terrorist attacks on New York. He hides his first name,
chosen for him by his Italian father, so as not to remind
the Jewish voters of the infamous Rudolph Hitler [sic].
This is why he prefers to shorten it to Rudy."

"There is an intense offensive against Saudi Arabia [in the
U.S.] because it is not automatically signing up for the
American war; on the contrary, it has many legitimate
reservations regarding Western policy towards the Arabs."

"Anyone following the Israeli and American columnists
smells a media trap aimed at accusing the Saudi kingdom of
terrorism, and even of harboring terrorists. [This is] not
because it is true, but because Saudi Arabia is fighting
alone on several fronts to protect the uniqueness of Saudi
policy. It will not enter into another's war when it does
not know where that war is headed; it fights terrorism in
its own way and protects the interests of itself and its
citizens."(3)

Al-Barghouthi's colleague, columnist (and Palestinian
Authority high ranking official) 'Adli Sadeq, attacked New
York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who declared his
support for Giuliani and criticized the Saudi regime:
"Friedman. says that the U.S. is not responsible for what
he calls the widespread 'frustration' among young Saudis
that makes them support bin Laden. He contends that it is
not Washington that maintains an autocratic regime, and
denies young people their political rights. He chides the
Arab countries for their failure to [deal with] the
challenges of development, and says that North Korea's
average per capita income in 1950 was similar to that of
Arab countries, but that today Korea has left the Arab
states far behind. According to him, the U.S. is not
responsible for this."

"Thomas Friedman is a liar and a fraud. The U.S. is the
enemy of the democratic aspirations of the Arab peoples; it
is the friend and protector of dictatorships and
autocracies; it is the number one schemer against
development in the Arab world."

"With regard to the media attack on Saudi Arabia, I
maintain that Riyadh is doing the right thing. Refraining
from joining the Americans. is counted in the tally of the
Saudi government's good deeds."(4)

Talal Salman, editor of the pro-Syrian Lebanese daily
Al-Safir, wrote that "the American president has missteps,
some of which are laughingly bizarre, and some of which are
stupid and not seemly for the most dangerous man in the
world."

"President George W. Bush, who is not known for his
intelligence or his knowledge of what is happening in the
world, tried to correct the misstep of his top diplomat
[U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who
referred to the possibility of an American attack on Syria]
and promised Syria that until further notice (!!) it would
remain outside the circle of his rage and his bloody
vengeance."

"In this circle might also be the two insults that the
American government directed at Prince Al-Walid bin Talal.
one by the Zionist New York mayor whose public feelings go
far beyond what Israel demands of him, and another by the
spokesman of the American State Department."

"The condition for accepting Arab money (with the exception
of the money that was plundered) is that [the donation] not
be contingent upon any political condition, that it
expresses absolute and unconditional loyalty, and that it
emphasizes submission to the 'master' without the latter
having to say thank you. The master is benevolent enough to
accept the money ."(5)

Endnotes:

(1) Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), October 15, 2001.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Palestinian Authority), October 17
2001.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Al-Safir (Lebanon), October 13 2001.

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