Some Needed Congressional Questions on Saudi Influence
By Douglas Farah
The Investigative Project has just reproduced an important letter from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va) requesting information from the Saudi-funded Center For Muslim Christian Understanding of Georgetown University.
It is worth recalling that Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal donated $20 million to the center, led by Dr. John Esposito, a long-time supporter of the international Muslim Brotherhood. Esposito has served on the boards of numerous Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations (USAR in the United States, IIPT in Great Britain, run by open Hamas supporter Azzam Tamimi, etc.) while defending Sami al Arian, Yousef al Qaradawi, and on and on.
HRH bin Talal also late last year donated $1.48 million to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA),one of the principle Muslim Brotherhood organizations operating in the United States.
Wolf's letter is important because it asks all the right questions, noting that "no changes have been made to the underlying legal authority relationg to non-Muslim worship that the Saudis have relied on to enforce these (restrictions on civil society and religious freedom) rules."
Given the Georgetown Center's role in training U.S. foreign service personnel, Wolf asks if the Center has "produced any analysis critical of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for example in fields of human rights, religious freedom, freedom of expression, women's rights, minority rights, protections of foreign workers, due process and the rule of law. My full blog is here.