via memeorandum
THE cheque from the Saudi Government for $360,000 was enclosed in an envelope.It was a donation, a gift, a part payment to subsidise the construction of a building that would become Sydney’s Muslim heartbeat: Lakemba mosque. More than 35 years after Sydney cleric Khalil Shami received the cheque, he insists it came with no strings attached. But while the cheque had no tangible conditions in the form of written instructions or binding contracts, the cleric received a message from his donors several months after depositing it.
“They said: ‘Please, can you mention the tragedy of the Palestinian people and what’s happened to them in your sermon?”‘ Shami tells Inquirer. “Which is really a very noble cause, a very noble cause, I couldn’t see a negative in their request.”
The message Shami received from Riyadh brings into question the influence petro-dollars can have on their recipients, whether the money is bankrolling a religious centre, a clerical allowance or Queensland’s Griffith University, which was exposed by The Australian last month for seeking a $1.37million Saudi grant, of which $100,000 was received, and offering to keep elements of the deal a secret.
See-Dubya (at Michelle Malkin) observes that this behavior isn’t new or unique to Australia but:
To be clear, this aspect isn’t mentioned in the article, but I once heard Daniel Pipes discuss it in a lecture and I thought it was worth a mention.
Well here’s one of the articles Pipes has written on the topic.
A range of public figures—former ambassadors, university professors, think tank experts – routinely opine in America about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while quietly taking Saudi funds. They learnedly discuss Arabian affairs on television, radio, in public lectures, and university classrooms. Having no visible connection to Saudi money, they speak with the authority of disinterested U.S. experts, enjoying more credibility than, say, another billionaire prince from the royal family.Saudi funding for opinion makers has been known but not its exact specifics. I can for the first time expose how the Saudis manage their covert publicity campaign in America thanks to a Saudi-employed public relations firm having incautiously contacted a senior professor at a major research institution. Although the professor did not accept the offer of the speakers, he showed enough interest to document the proposed transaction and then made the details available to me.
An employee at a leading public relations firm in Washington offered the professor Saudi-funded speakers for the lecture program he runs, doing so as part of a program to provide ongoing education to communities around the country about “the importance and value of strong U.S.-Saudi relations. … One of our campaign components is to implement a speaker’s bureau program on behalf of the Kingdom that reaches into target markets across the nation. I think there is a wonderful opportunity,” she gushed, “to develop a very stimulating event with [your speakers’ series].”
(There is a follow up here too.)
Fausta adds her thoughts.
The Saudis get the best mouthpieces money can buy. I suspect that a disproportionate number of their interlocutors subscribe to the idea that Israel somehow unfairly skews the debate in America. (Though as far as I know neither Walt nor Mearsheimer receive Saudi funds. If they weren’t so biased against Israel, Saudi influence would be the avenue they would pursue.)
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
