Mayor Bloomberg's partnership with anti-Israel Saudi prince
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s news company is teaming up with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to launch “Alarab” next year, a 24/7 news network that is sure to reflect Alwaleed’s anti-Israel viewpoint.And let's remember that bin Talal is cozy with Rupert Murdoch:
Bloomberg will provide Alarab with five hours of financial-related programming. The focus of the network is to cover the Arab Spring with an emphasis on free speech and press. The manager of the network, Jamal Khashoggi, says it is “going to be to the left of Al-Arabiya and to the right of Al-Jazeera.” With an estimated networth of $19.6 billion, Prince Alwaleed will be in a position to influence the region like never before.
Alwaleed is the Saudi prince that sought to make a $10 million donation to New York City after the 9/11 attacks, only to have his check returned to him by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The mayor was offended at Alwaleed’s response to the disaster. He said, “At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause… Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” he said.[...]
Alwaleed has spent tens of millions of dollars to spread Saudi influence around the world, especially in the U.S. In many cases, this has benefited the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2002, for example, he donated $500,000 to the Council on American-Islamic Relations for a media campaign to defend Islam. The Islamic Society of North America got $1.5 million for a scholarship program. John Esposito, probably the Muslim Brotherhood’s top non-Muslim advocate, founded Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding with his support. Alwaleed’s foundation is run by the daughter of Dr. Abdul-Hamid Abu-Sulayman, called “one of the most important figures in the history of the global Muslim Brotherhood."
Alwaleed is the second largest shareholder of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News Channel. He has boasted that when he saw Fox describing Muslim riots in France as, well, Muslim riots, he called Rupert Murdoch and had the terminology changed within 30 minutes. News Corp. owns14.5% of Alwaleed’s Rotana media group.And we shouldn't be fooled by his two-faced talk either. If he's going to promote Islam within the USA and advocate anti-Israeli viewpoints, then he's doing little more than to talk taqqiya. And Bloomberg's willingness to associate himself with such an awful man is just as reprehensible as when Murdoch did the same.
Alwaleed is known as a reformer by Saudi standards. He requires his female employees not to wear burqas or niqabs and gives them an allowance to buy other clothing. He wants to allow women to drive, and lets them do so on his private party even though Saudi Arabia bans it. He opposes the Ground Zero Mosque. “I am against putting the mosque there out of respect for those people who have been wounded there…The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can’t say, ‘Let’s just go back to where we were pre-9/11,” he said. However, this doesn’t change the fact that his foreign policy beliefs will influence this powerful station.
It's time for Bloomberg to retire from politics, and we must hope that in the next municipal election in NYC, voters will choose a better candidate.
Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, dhimmitude, House of Saud, islam, Israel, political corruption, terrorism, United States