What Influence Does Saudi Money Buy?

What Influence Does Saudi Money Buy?
By Asaf Romirowsky
Jewish Exponent
January 17, 2006

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/4702

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15042/

An Islamic group came to Temple University last spring with an offer
to provide $1.5 million for an endowed chair in Islamic studies to
honor religion professor Mahmoud Ayoub. After months of talks, the
deal never got off the ground, once trustees and others raised
concerns about the contributor, the International Institute of Islamic
Thought, a nonprofit research group that had been under scrutiny as
part of a government probe into the funding of suspected terrorists.

Some would like to consider money given by Saudis and other Arab
nations to American universities as generous gifts to those U.S.
universities who have educated their elites. A closer look reveals a
different picture that includes incitement, anti-Semitism and a skewed
view of Islam.

There have been some cases when universities have turned down funds.
In July 2000, the Harvard Divinity School first accepted $2.5 million
from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-
Nahyan, to endow an academic chair in Islamic Religious Studies.
However, Rachel Fish, a divinity student at the time and a founding
member of Harvard University Graduate-Students Friends of Israel,
raised an uproar, documenting the sheik's anti-Semitic ties.

The Harvard administration was forced to face facts and take a closer
look at who was offering the funds -- and why. As a result, the money
was not accepted; in 2004, the sheik withdrew funds.

But this is not the norm. Several years ago, a multimillion gift from
the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was shared between Harvard and
Georgetown universities.

These monetary efforts began in the 1960s and '70s, with Muslim donors
funneling millions of dollars into American universities to support
Islamic studies, hire faculty specialists in Islam, and fund the
writing of books and seminars on the topic.

Such support represents one of the biggest problems academia faces
today -- that is, how to arrive at a fair and balanced discussion when
it relates to Mideast studies.

A disturbing variable in the equation, which complicates the situation
further, is the unwillingness of many American Jews to take a strong
stand on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular, rabbis and Jewish
educators -- no matter where they stand on the political spectrum --
often behave in an apologetic manner when it comes to Israel, rather
than make assertive arguments from a Zionist point of view.

This unwillingness to confront the pro-Palestinian propaganda being
nurtured by Middle Eastern-studies departments is one of the major
sources of confusion among Jewish students. For example, so long as
liberal American Jews fail to speak up about the issue of post-1948
Jewish refugees from Arab lands, and instead, merely allow the
discussion to center on a Palestinian "right of return," Jewish
students will be on the defensive.

If pro-Israel advocates on campus are discussing the Jewish state only
in terms of "Israeli oppression," rather than in debunking such
notions, the result is always going to favor the anti-Israel forces.
That is why college campuses today have become podiums for those who
denigrate Israel, as is apparent from the different human rights, anti-
globalization and anti-imperialism groups that have adopted the
Palestinian cause.

Within academic circles, individual views are often turned into a
political litmus test. For example, Fouad Ajami, the articulate
interpreter of Arab culture and politics who teaches at Johns Hopkins
University, has been subject to scathing attacks from Arab critics.
Ostensibly, these critics find his scholarship faulty. In reality,
they see him as too soft on the question of Israel, and worse, selling
out to the enemy.

As we look to educate ourselves and the next generation about Israel
and the Middle East, we should question the sheer amount of cash being
offered and the influence these people are thereby buying, creating
bastions of noncritical, pro-Islamic scholarship within academia.

Asaf Romirowsky is an associate fellow at Campus Watch and the manager
of Israel & Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia.
.

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