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May 16, 2007
Australia: Cutting Saudi Funding Of Islamists
Saudi Arabia has mosques in many parts of the world. As was demonstrated by the case of Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham, Britain, sometimes the material presented to worshippers is totally incompatible with democracy. As well as the narrow viewpoints expressed by Wahhabism (Saudi Arabia's homegrown brand of fundamentalism) many Saudi religious materials are blatantly anti-Semitic.
Today's Australian reports that the intelligence agency ASIO and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been active in reducing the flow of funds to Islamic groups which derives from Saudi government and individuals.
We reported in January that Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer had opposed the building of the Park Holme mosque in Adelaide. He said then: "There has been concern internationally, not specifically to Australia, about some elements in Saudi Arabia which is the heartland of Wahhabism and Sufism... trying to spread that particular extremist interpretation of Islam. Historically the Saudi Arabian Government has provided funding (to overseas mosques), I'm not saying there's anything illegitimate about that... but we can obviously express a view to the Saudi Arabian government."
Downer, it appears, meant to say "Salafism", the extremist and uncompromising version of Islamic fundamentalism, rather than Sufism, the apolitical and generally tolerant branch of "spiritual" Islam.
The United States has claimed that Saudi charity money has funded the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which carried out the Bali bombings of October 12, 2002, in which 202 people were killed.
The Australian quotes Islamic sources who claim that over the past 12 months, less than $1 million AUS ($830,830 US) of Saudi funding has come into Australia. Before 9/11, Saudi money flowed into Australian Islamic institutions at a rate five times higher.
The decision to curtail Saudi funding has been agreed between Australia and the government of Saudi Arabia. This derived from a meeting between Alexander Downer and the Saudis on a visit to the kingdom in 2004. He said to the Australian yesterday: "As a result of my visit to Saudi Arabia, they introduced a new system of transparency. Prior to that system we don't know what funding they provided so we can't compare what was done before with what is done now, but we do know that they now report (to us)."
The newspaper reports that there are still fears that Saudi individuals are still sending funds.
This month, an imam at the Abu Bakr mosque in Canberra, the capital, was removed from his post. The imam, Mohammed Swaiti, was said to be too radical, and it appears that he was also funded by Saudi Arabia.
In 2004, the Belmore Mosque in Sydney had its Saudi funding after fears that the mosque had links to Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud. Zoud was accused of funding the jihadist network in Australia, and was said to have links with Willie Brigitte, who was deported from Australia in 2003, suspected of involvement in terror plots in Sydney and being a member of Al Qaeda. Guadeloupe-born French national Brigitte was jailed in Paris in March of this year for a total of nine years for "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise." In March 2004, Zoud claimed he had only met Brigitte once.
Keyword: Willy Brigitte
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 16, 2007 7:39 AM
Comments
About time. If this was an international aid group funding relief efforts in a third world country or helping disaster victims that would be one thing, but helping to colonize or overthrow foreign governments is espionage, and I'm glad someone somewhere is finally beginning to realize it. They could be doing good things with their money, helping spread hate and intolerance for their goal of world domination, is a "hostile" activity.
Posted by: Catawhumpus ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 16, 2007 9:14 PM
I think this could do with some follow-up:
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Congress is looking into the issue of "the other Middle East refugees" -- Jews in Arab countries who were forced through violence or discriminatory decrees to flee when the State of Israel was established 59 years ago.
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee's subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held a hearing on the subject last week, and "sense of Congress" resolutions are being considered in the House and Senate.
In 1948, 856,000 Jews lived in 10 Arab countries. Today, there are some 8,000.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200705/FOR20070514a.html
Posted by: hutchrun at May 17, 2007 3:25 AM
Dear Giraldus,
Obviously, Mr Downer confused Sufism with Salafism, but even though the adepts of Sufism are in general seeking spirituality and are rather tolerant, Sufism has never denied the "little" Jihad, as far as I know ! And if I am not wrong, the Ismaelians, who developped an extremely violent brand of Islam, were Sufis...
The only really tolerant brand of Islam I know is Mouridism, and West-African Islam in general (and this, not in all countries : see Nigeria).
But this little precision being made, yes, it is about time !
Amiti�s.
Spipou
Posted by: Spipou at May 17, 2007 9:43 PM
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