Prince Alwaleed is the unfathomably rich Saudi prince who owns part of Fox News, and whose check to New York City after 9/11 was famously returned by Rudolph Giuliani after he made remarks suggesting that he thought America's foreign policy was to blame for the attacks. He also funds pseudo-academic propagandist John Esposito's Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown.
Who knows what else he funds -- the mainstream media, in its frenzy to track and sensationalize the comparatively minuscule sums that anti-jihadists are taking in to sustain their operations, shows no interest in that.
In light of all that, his statements here are remarkable and welcome. Notice also that he doesn't say anything to the effect that it is not at Ground Zero and is not a mosque: he no doubt knows that those are just propaganda lines fed to the useful idiots. (In case you're just tuning in, the mosque will be built upon part of the attack site of Ground Zero: the Burlington Coat Factory building it will replace was severely damaged when the landing gear from one of the 9/11 hijacked planes crashed into its roof -- that is the attraction of the site for those who want to build a triumphal mosque a la the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. And yes, it is a mosque: it will contain a mosque, and no one is going around saying that mega-churches that contain swimming pools and tennis courts are not churches, because they contain more than just a worship space.)
"WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Prince Alwaleed 'against' Ground Zero mosque," by Anil Bhoyrul for Arabian Business, October 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed has said he is against the construction of a mosque close to the site of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York. In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business to be published on Sunday, His Royal Highness also said he had no part in financing the controversial project.In his first public comments on the issue, he said: "I heard and saw a lot of news about me being associated with it and this is all wrong. We did not finance this thing.
"I say that I am against putting the mosque in that particular place. And I'll tell you why. For two reasons: first of all, those people behind the mosque have to respect, have to appreciate and have to defer to the people of New York, and not try to agitate the wound by saying 'we need to put the mosque next to the 9/11 site'.
"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. "I am against putting the mosque there out of respect for those people who have been wounded over there."
Prince Alwaleed added: "More importantly, the mosque is not in the best location, the mosque has to be in a dignified location. It can't be next to a bar or a strip club, or in a neighbourhood that is not really refined and good. The impression I have is that this mosque is just being inserted and squeezed over there. So I am personally against putting the mosque over there..."
"I believe that Christians have the right to build churches where they want and Jews have the right to put synagogues where they want and Muslims have the right to put a mosque where they want. But you have to take care and respect the dignity of those New Yorkers who have been hit badly. Ten years ago is nothing when you talk about history."...
"Christians have the right to build churches where they want and Jews have the right to put synagogues where they want." Great, Prince! So when can we start construction on that church and synagogue in Mecca?
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