The questions we should all ask now are: What are the motives behind the anti-Saudi campaign going on in the American media? What kind of evidence is there to prove that Saudi Arabia funds terrorist outlets around the world? Who benefits from targeting Saudi interests and overseas financial assets?
The most hateful thing in the campaign was a call to invade Saudi Arabia on the ground that it is the country where the terrorists came from. The “sarcastic” suggestion by the National Review that “nuking Mecca” would send a “signal” to Muslims represented a high level of unjustified animosity.
Saudis in the US have had a hard time since the Sept. 11 attacks. We have gone through moments of fear, worrying about violent backlashes similar to the one the Muslim community faced shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing. At that time Muslims reported hundreds of incidents of harassment, threats and actual violence.
Many columnists and commentators have accused Saudi Arabia of funding the suicide bombings against the Israelis. True, the people and government of Saudi Arabia have a historic commitment to supporting the Palestinians in their struggle. But the money that the Saudis have donated to Palestine has been an attempt to channel the anger they feel at the Israeli aggression in the occupied territories and also to ease the suffering of their brothers in the Holy Land. The money collected has never been used to sponsor a terrorist attack but to provide urgent medical and food relief to the Palestinians.
The local newspaper in the town where I live published a cartoon that shows a bad-looking Saudi man with a monster-like face and a suspicious smile. Behind his back, the man is holding a huge dagger. This cartoon conveyed a negative image and a misleading idea about Saudis. It showed them as cheating, two-faced people. It showed them as untrustworthy people who excel at fomenting plots and conspiracies.
Who is responsible for pushing such negative ideas about Saudi Arabia? Why do average Americans believe these inaccuracies every day? Don’t they know that Saudi people are as human as they are? It is true that in each society you find both good and bad. Nobody will deny, for instance, that there are bad elements in American society.
Raising doubts about the historical relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States and the call to view Riyadh, as an enemy are all part of a hostile US media campaign since Sept. 11.
The American media must understand that terrorism has become a global phenomenon beyond the control of any single country.
Antagonistic remarks and fabricated allegations have no effect beyond spreading hatred, which in turn promotes terrorism.
— Fahad Al-Qurashi is a graduate student at Ball State University in the States.
