The two faces of Saudi Arabia

The attendance of the United States at the “no Jews allowed” terrorism conference served to put an American stamp of approval on the Saudi effort to portray itself as a foe of terrorism. The American delegation included a roster of 18 government officials, although the conference included Iran and excluded Israel. The United States appears to have gone whole hog, so to speak, in supporting the Saudi public relations goals in convening the conference.
Elsewhere the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia presents another face. In “Behind enemy lines” we discussed the recent Freedom House report on Saudi goverment publications in American mosques promoting hatred and jihad. Within the Kingdom itself the beat goes on. MEMRI reports:

During the past week leading up to and during the opening of the conference, Saudi government-controlled TV has continued to air programs and shows that incite their viewers to jihad and hatred of Christians and Jews. One example is a poem read in a pre-conference meeting in honor of Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan, who was in attendance, which was written and read by Saudi poet Mash’al Al-Harithi. The poem makes the claim that Osama bin Laden “was sent by the Jews.”
Other shows this week devoted to the conference have also blamed Jews for being the source of terrorism, including a TV interview on Saudi Channel 1 with Saudi researcher Suheila Hammad, who blamed Jews and “neo-cons” for terrorism. MEMRI has produced a compilation of clips from Saudi and Arab TV channels dealing with Saudi Arabia and Jihad.

To view the MEMRI clip, click here. For MEMRI’s special coverage of the Saudi conference and jihad on Saudi television, click here.
HINDROCKET adds: Yesterday’s Cox & Forkum cartoon illustrates the Trunk’s point rather well; click to enlarge:

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