Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phoned New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani this morning, praising him for his refusal to accept a ten-million dollar check from a Saudi Arabian prince yesterday. Giuliani turned down the money after Prince Alaweed Ibin Talal, a nephew of Saudi King Fahd, said after his visit to the site of the former World Trade Center that the United States must now change its policy in the Middle East and be \"more balanced towards the Palestinian cause... our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek.\" Giuliani rejected this position outright, saying,
\"To suggest that there\'s a justification for [the attacks] only invites this happening in the future. 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.\"
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations similarly praised Giuliani for what it called his \"courageous moral stand in rejecting the contribution of [the prince], who crudely sought to use the occasion for hostile propaganda and political ends.\" The organization said that the attempt to tie the attacks to American policy in the Middle East \"is not only based on a false premise, but in effect, is an attempt to justify such terrorism.\"
U.S. federal government officials were quick to issue a statement distancing themselves from the mayor\'s decision.
\"To suggest that there\'s a justification for [the attacks] only invites this happening in the future. 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.\"
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations similarly praised Giuliani for what it called his \"courageous moral stand in rejecting the contribution of [the prince], who crudely sought to use the occasion for hostile propaganda and political ends.\" The organization said that the attempt to tie the attacks to American policy in the Middle East \"is not only based on a false premise, but in effect, is an attempt to justify such terrorism.\"
U.S. federal government officials were quick to issue a statement distancing themselves from the mayor\'s decision.