A long article in the London-based Saudi Arabian newspaper, a-Sharq al-Awsat, analyzes the poor impression Americans have of Saudi Arabia and puts it down solely to Israel?s so-called ?Zionist assets in the United States.? In the view of the author, Zionists in America have so totally monopolized the US government, the administration can no longer act in the ?enlightened? national interest. Mainly, this control is achieved through manipulation of American public opinion, according to the Saudi article, using ?American commentators, media talk-show analysts, and all types of ?authorities? on Islam?? The objective of the Zionists is to ?reinvigorate a ?Crusader? mentality throughout the West,? writes the columnist. ?It is high time,? the Saudi article concludes, ?for American senators and congresspersons to recognize the real forces that are at work in America?s growing confrontation with Saudi Arabia and the entire Muslim world.?
The a-Sharq al-Awsat article identifies a few subjects that the ?Zionist lobby? has been using ?to thoroughly demonize Islam and the Muslims?? The primary among these is the war on terrorism unleashed by President George W. Bush. According to the Saudi columnist, ?The media was called to support this joint ?war on terrorism? with a continuous barrage of propaganda that Islam gives birth to Islamic activism, Islamic activism produces Islamic radicals, and Islamic radicals metamorphose into Islamic terrorists. To abbreviate this process, Islam becomes synonymous with terrorism.?
Because ?Saudi Arabian support for the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat, as well as the popular support that flows between the people of Saudi Arabia and the people of Palestine, is no secret,? the article points out, ?the American Zionist-Jewish lobby began to turn its verbal guns against Saudi Arabia.? Other issues which the Saudi columnist writes were used by the Zionist lobby to ?whip up against Saudi Arabia? are ?the Saudi opposition to an American-led military attack on Iraq? the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran?? As if these issues are not of legitimate concern to Americans, the author comments, ?In the conspiratorial Zionist mind this narrowing of the distances between Riyadh, Tehran, and Baghdad is becoming worrisome, especially if one adds Syria and Lebanon to this troubling ?axis of evil?.? The author states that the only way to explain American criticism of Saudi Arabia is ?Israel?s intervention in American policy-making and American internal affairs?.?
Pointing to another issue that has come up in the American media regarding Saudi Arabian influence in the Middle East, the Saudi article says, ?The Zionist pens and tongues have been ululating recently against Wahhabism, which they discovered to be the fire in the belly of the Saudi beast. They finally found something on which they can hang all the Islamic dirty laundry from the jungles of the Philippines to the desert of Somalia.? The entire focus on Saudi Arabia and its religious heritage only occurs, according to the Saudi newspaper, ?When Israel wants to tap American military capabilities to serve Tel Aviv?s foreign-policy objectives? now, due to Israeli priorities, the American media has at long last discovered ?human rights? and attacked Wahhabi extremism as the key to untying the Saudi-American knot!?
Thus, the a-Sharq al-Awsat article bemoans the ?Israeli-inspired American statements and positions? in the US media: ?The American press and media have discovered another Saudi Arabia which no one before ever knew or heard of. Now Saudi Arabia (which has been the same Saudi Arabia all along) has no human rights. It discriminates against women, minorities, and foreigners. Saudi Arabia has been misbehaving recently. It has not permitted the American military to launch military attacks from the Kingdom into Afghanistan. The Saudis want this war against terrorism to be concluded as soon as possible and with a minimum amount of casualties. Saudi Arabia is also disloyal because it refuses to bend to American orders and seize or freeze bank accounts or investments that belong to its own citizens in the absence of credible and court-quality evidence. But all of this Saudi disloyalty dwarfs beside the Saudis? cardinal sin of showing understanding and support for their Palestinian brethren. This unforgivable sin alone is enough to place the Saudi Arabian government high on the list of those supporting and abetting terrorism.?
This Zionist influence even extends to US law enforcement, according to the Saudi newspaper. ?All that the US government has done in seizing properties and bending laws to stifle lawful Islamic organizations and law-abiding Muslim American citizens,? charges the article, ?is at the beck and call of the Zionist lobby.? Despite all of the supposed Zionist success in the ?propaganda war,? a-Sharq al-Awsat states, ?Their divide, terrorize, and conquer tactics? will fail in the long run.? Why? ?The spirit of Islam has deep roots throughout Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world. The secularization of Europe cannot be replicated throughout the Islamic world. And the ?Israeli moment? cannot eclipse more than half a century of Saudi-American vital, strategic, and shared interests.?
The a-Sharq al-Awsat article identifies a few subjects that the ?Zionist lobby? has been using ?to thoroughly demonize Islam and the Muslims?? The primary among these is the war on terrorism unleashed by President George W. Bush. According to the Saudi columnist, ?The media was called to support this joint ?war on terrorism? with a continuous barrage of propaganda that Islam gives birth to Islamic activism, Islamic activism produces Islamic radicals, and Islamic radicals metamorphose into Islamic terrorists. To abbreviate this process, Islam becomes synonymous with terrorism.?
Because ?Saudi Arabian support for the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat, as well as the popular support that flows between the people of Saudi Arabia and the people of Palestine, is no secret,? the article points out, ?the American Zionist-Jewish lobby began to turn its verbal guns against Saudi Arabia.? Other issues which the Saudi columnist writes were used by the Zionist lobby to ?whip up against Saudi Arabia? are ?the Saudi opposition to an American-led military attack on Iraq? the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran?? As if these issues are not of legitimate concern to Americans, the author comments, ?In the conspiratorial Zionist mind this narrowing of the distances between Riyadh, Tehran, and Baghdad is becoming worrisome, especially if one adds Syria and Lebanon to this troubling ?axis of evil?.? The author states that the only way to explain American criticism of Saudi Arabia is ?Israel?s intervention in American policy-making and American internal affairs?.?
Pointing to another issue that has come up in the American media regarding Saudi Arabian influence in the Middle East, the Saudi article says, ?The Zionist pens and tongues have been ululating recently against Wahhabism, which they discovered to be the fire in the belly of the Saudi beast. They finally found something on which they can hang all the Islamic dirty laundry from the jungles of the Philippines to the desert of Somalia.? The entire focus on Saudi Arabia and its religious heritage only occurs, according to the Saudi newspaper, ?When Israel wants to tap American military capabilities to serve Tel Aviv?s foreign-policy objectives? now, due to Israeli priorities, the American media has at long last discovered ?human rights? and attacked Wahhabi extremism as the key to untying the Saudi-American knot!?
Thus, the a-Sharq al-Awsat article bemoans the ?Israeli-inspired American statements and positions? in the US media: ?The American press and media have discovered another Saudi Arabia which no one before ever knew or heard of. Now Saudi Arabia (which has been the same Saudi Arabia all along) has no human rights. It discriminates against women, minorities, and foreigners. Saudi Arabia has been misbehaving recently. It has not permitted the American military to launch military attacks from the Kingdom into Afghanistan. The Saudis want this war against terrorism to be concluded as soon as possible and with a minimum amount of casualties. Saudi Arabia is also disloyal because it refuses to bend to American orders and seize or freeze bank accounts or investments that belong to its own citizens in the absence of credible and court-quality evidence. But all of this Saudi disloyalty dwarfs beside the Saudis? cardinal sin of showing understanding and support for their Palestinian brethren. This unforgivable sin alone is enough to place the Saudi Arabian government high on the list of those supporting and abetting terrorism.?
This Zionist influence even extends to US law enforcement, according to the Saudi newspaper. ?All that the US government has done in seizing properties and bending laws to stifle lawful Islamic organizations and law-abiding Muslim American citizens,? charges the article, ?is at the beck and call of the Zionist lobby.? Despite all of the supposed Zionist success in the ?propaganda war,? a-Sharq al-Awsat states, ?Their divide, terrorize, and conquer tactics? will fail in the long run.? Why? ?The spirit of Islam has deep roots throughout Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world. The secularization of Europe cannot be replicated throughout the Islamic world. And the ?Israeli moment? cannot eclipse more than half a century of Saudi-American vital, strategic, and shared interests.?