Saudi Prince in written statement said US Middle East policies caused World Trade Center attacks, US should re-examine its policies-CBS News

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Saudi Prince Bin Talal said, "We must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause." [Mayor Bloomberg and others say hijackers were on their own and did not reflect Islamic issues].........................

10/12/2001, Saudi Prince press release one month after 9/11/2001 blamed US actions for the attacks
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10/12/2001, "N.Y. returns $10 million gift over policy critique," NY Times, via SF Gate
 
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Source of image below: 10/11/2001, "N.Y. returns $10 million gift over policy critique," New York Times, via SF Gate. Image: AP, Stan Honda:

"One month after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, right, hands New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a check for $10 million for relief efforts on Thursday, October 11, 2001, in New York. Prince Alwaleed, a member of the Saudi royal family who was sixth on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest men for 2001, also visited ground zero. (AP Photo/Stan Honda,pool)"
 
10/12/2001, "$10 Million? NYC Says No Thanks," CBS News

 

• Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal gave Mayor Giuliani a check for $10 million
•  right after the attacks which the Mayor rejected when informed of the Prince's statement:

"In a written statement handed out by his publicist, the prince said: "At times like this one,

• we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack.

• I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and

• adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause."

Giuliani, who had attended a memorial service with Alwaleed and accepted his $10-million offer to help victims' families, had a harsh response when he learned about the statement.
"There is no moral equivalent for this attack," Giuliani said.... "Not only are those

• statements wrong,
• they're part of the problem."

Sunny Mindel, the mayor's communications director, told The Associated Press:

• "We are not going to accept the check — period."

The prince, an outspoken member of the Saudi royal family, is

• a major investor in American companies and

was No. 6 on Forbes magazine's 2001 list of the world's richest men,

• with a worth of $20 billion. "...

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10/12/2001, "Giuliani rejects $10 million from Saudi prince," CNN

"Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday the city would not accept a $10 million donation for disaster relief from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the September 11 attacks.
 
"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this [terrorist] act. There is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people." 

Prince Alwaleed gave the mayor a check after a Thursday morning memorial service at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the attacks. 

The prince offered his condolences to the people of New York, but after the ceremony he released a statement suggesting the United States "must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack." 

"The check has not been deposited. The Twin Towers Fund has not accepted it," Giuliani said in a statement late Thursday. 

The prince's statement said the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause.
 
"While the U.N. passed clear resolutions numbered 242 and 338 calling for the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip decades ago, our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek," the statement said. 

Giuliani flatly rejected the prince's position. "To suggest that there's a justification for [the terrorist attacks] only invites this happening in the future," he said. "It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous. 

"And one of the reasons I think this happened is because people were engaged in moral equivalency in not understanding the difference between liberal democracies like the United States, like Israel, and terrorist states and those who condone terrorism
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"So I think not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem," Giuliani said."


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Bloomberg wants a mosque so bad he's tearful:

• 8/3/10, "Bloomberg Chokes up during Ground Zero Mosque Speech," Gothamist

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9/18/11, "John L. Esposito: Apologist for Wahhabi Islam," American Thinker, Stephen Schwartz

"(Prince Alwaleed) Bin Talal became known to Americans in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when he attempted to hand a $10-million donation to then-mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani. The prince's check was accompanied by a declaration that "the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance

• towards the Palestinian cause."

Giuliani returned the check and rejected Bin Talal's criticism. "...(5th parag.)


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