Najat AlSaied: The Axis of Moderation vs. the Axis of Resistance in the Middle East

The Axis of Moderation vs. the Axis of Resistance in the Middle East

by Najat AlSaied
December 1, 2017 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11471/axis-moderation-resistance

• "We are just returning to the Islam we are used to... The moderate Islam". — Saudi Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on October 26, 2017.
• Saudi Arabia's complaints against Iran's interference and spreading extremism cannot sound credible if extremism is being practiced inside Saudi Arabia.
• There urgently needs to be a unified American position to confront the Axis of Resistance. Iran continues to be the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, empowering these armed militias and extremist groups -- the basis of terrorism both in the region and across the world. It makes death threats, cooperates with a nuclearized North Korea, and all the while races toward nuclear weapons capability itself.

The dispute between the Arab states, often known as the Axis of Moderation, and the officially designated terrorist regime in Iran often known as the Axis of Resistance, is no longer just a political disagreement but a threat to the national security of Arab countries.

While the Arab states seem pro-statehood and work with other states, Iran and the Axis of resistance seems not to. Even though Iran calls itself Republic, it has a militia mentality and rarely deals with states. In general, rather than dealing with governments, it instead establishes militias, as it has in Lebanon and Yemen. Even in Iraq, where the government is considered its ally, Iran has established more than 15 militias. Qatar, by supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as Syria under the Assad regime, seem to have the same mentality as Iran. If you trace the Axis of Resistance, all of them appear to have adopted the concept of supporting militias and extremist groups under the slogan of "resistance."

The Iranian regime's long history has now culminated in Saudi Arabia being targeted by Iranian missiles located in Yemen. They are coordinated in Lebanon by the Hezbollah militia, who train the Houthis in Yemen. It is important to understand that these violations and proxy wars carried out by the Iranian regime not only threaten the Arab Gulf states but also pose a threat to a regional and international security.

The Axis of Resistance is led by Iran, and includes Syria, Qatar, Hezbollah, Hamas, Arab Shiites loyal to Wilayat al-Faqih ("The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist") in Iran and Arab nationalists. Its slogans consist of fighting imperialism, empowering the (supposedly) vulnerable -- mainly Muslim Shiites -- and furthering "Arab nationalism," which usually manifests itself in support for Palestinians against Israelis.

The expansionist objectives of the Axis of Resistance -- in its drive to build a "Shiite Crescent" from Iran to the Mediterranean, are clear, compared to the objectives of the Axis of Moderation, which have not announced any specific aims, except to denounce Iran's interference in the Arab countries' affairs.

The Axis of Moderation comprises Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Arab Gulf countries, except for Qatar. The great mistake that the Axis of Moderation has made in confronting the Iranian regime -- to try to curb its export of the its "Revolution" -- has been to fall into the trap of propagating sectarianism. While Iran portrayed itself as the defender of all the Shiites in the world, Saudi Arabia, as a result, acted as the defender of all the Sunnis in the Muslim world -- accordingly, sectarianism was propagated. 
This polarization, however, has only furthered the interests of the Iranian regime, whose chief objective seems to be to continue igniting this division in an apparent policy of divide and conquer. 
 Instead of the members of the Axis of Moderation confronting Iran politically or militarily, they challenged it on religious and sectarian grounds, such as publishing countless books against Shiites that describe them as the enemies of Islam and labelling all Shiites as subordinate to Iran, as if all Shiites were Iran's puppets, which not all of them are.

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in the inaugural opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, May 21, 2017. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

This divisiveness has brought extremism and terrorism to the region, and has only harmed everyone.

Now the Axis of Moderation has become shrewder in its confrontation with the Iran and has employed a greater number of experts in Iranian affairs. The Axis of Moderation, especially Saudi Arabia, has realized that it cannot face down the threat of Iran without radical internal reforms. Saudi Arabia's complaints against Iran's interference and spreading extremism cannot sound credible if extremism is being practiced inside Saudi Arabia. These internal reforms, and liberalizing the society, are important internally: they will boost the economy by creating an attractive investment environment, especially for foreign investors. As importantly, reforms will stop any adversary from saying that Saudi Arabia is a state supporter of terrorism or a land that exports terrorists.

SAUDI ARABIA
The most obvious changes are Saudi Arabia's internal reforms that cover "social openness" in the form of concerts and festivals, coordinated by an entertainment body, and the country's attempts to undermine clerical control, both by arresting extremists and establishing a committee at the Islamic University in Medina to codify the interpretation of Quranic verses that call for extremism, especially against other religions.

Saudi Arabia has also clamped down on corruption by arresting suspected businessmen, princes and former ministers. The kingdom has also raised the status of women by giving them more of their human rights, such as the recent lifting of the ban on women driving. In another important change, Saudi Arabia will also allow women to be clerics to confront all the patriarchal interpretations of verses in Quran related to women. Eventually, that could mean that lifting the ban requiring male guardians for women might also coming soon. The Saudi crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has also said that he will allow women to take sports classes in school, attend sporting event for women and to permit music. His wish, he has said, is to "restore Islam."

The most important matter of all was pointed out by the Saudi Crown Prince, at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on October 26, 2017: "We are just returning to the Islam we are used to... The moderate Islam." He also said, "We will not continue to be in the post-1979 era."

This is essentially a confession that the approach that Saudi Arabia followed after 1979 to try to oppose the Khomeini Revolution was not helpful, and that now it is time for real reform to face both internal and external challenges.

What Saudi Arabia is doing will eventually contribute towards clarifying the aims of the Axis of Moderation, which will be to support countries whose primary objectives are development, modernity and stability. The most important goal is to stamp out terrorism by supporting a "moderate" Islam or, more specifically, supporting the approach that Saudi Arabia took before 1979. This approach was echoed by the UAE ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, who said that the moderate countries boycotting Qatar are heading towards secularism -- in contrast to Qatar's support for Islamist militias such as Hezbollah, and radical groups in the Axis of Resistance, such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

QATAR
What has complicated the situation has been an exploitation of the conflict in the United States between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party over how to fight terrorism by countries in the Axis of Resistance such as Qatar.

The double face of Qatar is revealed in many ways. Al Jazeera in English, for instance -- as mentioned the article, "Al Jazeera: Non-Arabs Should Not Be Fooled" -- is totally different from Al Jazeera in Arabic.

Ahmed Mansour, for example, one of Al Jazeera's anchors, tweeted about Hurricane "Irma" in Florida by citing a Koranic verse to say that what is happening in America is God's curse: "Twenty million Americans fled out of fear from Hurricane Irma," he wrote; then he cited a verse from Quran saying,

"And He shows you His signs. So which of the signs of Allah do you deny?" (40:81, Sahih International)

After his tweet in Arabic was read by American journalists, he apologized in a very sweet tweet in English.

Qatar also pretends to the US that it is supportive of its values, but in fact has close ties with all the enemies of the US. Sultan Saad Al-Muraikhi, Qatar's permanent envoy to the Arab League, for example, has called Iran, which the US has officially designated as a terrorist state, an "honorable state". Qatar also disagrees with designating Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations and calls them, instead, "resistance movements" against Israel.

Qatar has, moreover, used that dispute for its own ends by way of an alliance with the Democratic Party's allies and supporters.

Many Qatari writers and Qatar's supporters, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, have written articles against the Trump administration, as opposed to the previous administration which clearly had a soft spot for the Muslim Brotherhood. From the beginning, the administration of US President Barack Obama overruled Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, by insisting that the Muslim Brotherhood attend Obamas speech in Cairo, thereby setting the stage for the fall of Mubarak; and also strongly supported the subsequent regime then Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi (who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood). Obama also openly counted the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among his "best friends."
These opinion-makers in the US, evidently nostalgic for the previous administration, and known, especially during the Iran Deal, as not exactly aligned with the Axis of Moderation, seem to have been exploiting the rift between the Democrats and Republicans, apparently hoping for the impeachment of Donald Trump. As a Saudi academic and researcher, Ahmad Al-faraj, wrote in his article, "Qatar: The dream of isolating Trump!," they possibly think that a Democrat President, like Obama, would again support them.

While Qatar makes itself out to be tolerant and a supporter of democratic Americans and Westerners, anyone who watches Al Jazeera in Arabic will find nothing other than pure hatred of Western values and enormous support for armed militias such as Hezbollah and terrorist groups such as Hamas.

There urgently needs, therefore, to be a unified American position to confront the Axis of Resistance. Iran continues to be the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, empowering these armed militias and extremist groups -- the basis of terrorism both in the region and across the world. It makes death threats, cooperates with a nuclearized North Korea, and all the while races toward nuclear weapons capability itself. The United States would also do well to advocate a unified European position, and draw support from across the political spectrum. Unfortunately, European governments, for their own economic interests, have turned a blind eye to all the terrorism, extremism and sectarianism that Iran is fomenting. European countries should be warned that if they continue to put these economic interests ahead of global security, not only will the decision undermine the already-fragile national security of their own countries but also those of the region.
It is in the interest of the United States and world peace to support the pillars of an Axis of Moderation that would:

• Eliminate political Islam because it exploits religion for radical political goals in both the Sunni and Shiite sects. The Shiite version of political Islam failed in Iraq and the Sunni version of the Muslim Brotherhood failed in Egypt and Tunisia. In both versions of political Islam, violence and terrorism are exacerbated.
• Undermine Iran's influence among armed militias in the region such as the militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi in Yemen and the sectarian militias in Iraq. These should be classified as terrorist organizations. Hamas in the Gaza Strip has already been classified as such by the United States on October 31, 2001. Any country that supports Hamas or defends it, even in its media, should be classified as terrorist too.
• Prevent the existence of armed militias operating as a state within a state; they are the beginning of the collapse of states and therefore a serious threat to peace and stability.
• Consolidate the principles of secularism in internal and external dealings. Incitement to sectarian and racial hatred must be prevented as well as the use of Quranic verses to spread violence and extremism. To keep Iraq out of Iran's control, non-sectarian neighborly relations need to be maintained.
• Instill the principles of tolerance and respect for all religions and sects and guarantee the free practice of religions and the protection of minorities.

Moderate countries will not promote the rhetoric of a fight with Israel, as does the Axis of Resistance, led by Iran; instead, the Axis of Moderation is now committed to the principles of peace, which are based on the common interests of states to ensure the security and prosperity of all citizens.

The region and the world as a whole have suffered from the actions of the Iranian regime and its allies. There should be no justification for the existence of militias and extremist groups under the banner of resistance or similar pretexts. The international community needs to be firm in challenging states that allow or support such groups and should stress that states can only protect themselves with armies and armed forces, not with militias.

A unified American and European position needs to help the Axis of Moderation to prevent countries in turmoil from becoming cantons of militias and extremist groups. That seems a more constructive way to fight terrorism and build global stability.

Najat AlSaied is a Saudi American academic and the author of "Screens of Influence: Arab Satellite Television & Social Development". She is an Assistant Professor at Zayed University in the College of Communication and Media Sciences in Dubai-UAE.
This article was first published in Arabic at Al Hurra.

Drieu Godefridi : Has France Been Bought by a State Sponsor of Islamic Terrorism?

Has France Been Bought by a State Sponsor of Islamic Terrorism?

by Drieu Godefridi
August 31, 2017 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10911/france-qatar

• It is through these tax breaks that the Qataris are buying the "jewels" of France. The U.S. is not selling its defense companies to Qatar.
• Thanks to its huge gas and oil reserves, Qatar has the highest per capita income in the world and huge reserves of cash to invest everywhere, whereas France, thanks to 40 years of socialism, is in dire need of cash.

The state of Qatar has been officially labelled as a "state sponsor of terrorism", and an active supporter of Islamic terrorist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State -- not by Western governments, but by Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islamic faith, and the other Islamic regimes of the region.
Knowing the facts of Qatar -- 11000km², one-third the size of Belgium, population 2.5 million -- the question may seem far-fetched: How could France, the great France, possibly be bought by a tiny state such as Qatar?

For the single reason that, thanks to its huge gas and oil reserves, Qatar has the highest per capita income in the world and huge reserves of cash to invest everywhere, whereas France, thanks to 40 years of socialism, is in dire need of cash and has a tradition of corruptible officials, to say nothing of a propensity for "collaboration".

On August 4, the English press -- not the French press -- revealed that French prosecutors are actively investigating two events: the awarding the 2022 World Cup of football (soccer) to Qatar, and the purchase by "Qatari Diar", a state-owned investment company, of a stake in the French utility firm Veolia.
At the center of the investigation is former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. To be sure, Sarkozy has not been formally indicted (and he may never be), but the evidence is overwhelming.

First, the World Cup. That the State of Qatar, known for decades for its active support of Islamic terror organizations, and with a temperature among the highest in the world -- in addition to zero tradition in the world of football -- was awarded the 2022 World Cup is, of course, a source of wonder ever since the award was announced by FIFA, the international governing body of football.

French investigators are now looking into a meeting that took place between then-President Sarkozy, Michel Platini -- the French former president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), who sat on the FIFA committee that chose Qatar -- and Qatari officials on November 23, 2010 (10 days before the vote). It is alleged that Platini was dead-set against Qatar and that Sarkozy urged him to change his mind: "They're good people."

The "deal" is said to have been sealed when Qatar agreed to buy the biggest French soccer team, the Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG). It is alleged that huge bribes were paid by Qatar to high-ranking French officials, to secure these two deals: the World Cup and the Veolia investment. Although no evidence has yet been presented, the case would not have been opened by French prosecutors without it. In addition, no one has ever denied the meeting of November 23, 2010.

In April 2010, the "Qatari Diar" fund bought a 5% stake in Veolia. Investigators are tracking 182 million euros suspected of having been used to bribe French officials. Investigators are also looking into a possible link between these two operations: Qatar investing in Veolia as a favor to France, possibly in exchange for France's support for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.

France's then-President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) greets Qatar's then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani (right) on March 19, 2011 in Paris, France. (Photo by Franck Prevel/Getty Images)

It is doubtful if the French investigators will ever get to the bottom of these two cases. The judiciary in France has a long tradition of submitting to the government. Since 1789, the French judiciary has not even been an independent power -- as are the Legislative and the Executive -- but a mere authority with a more limited scope.
It is revealing that these two investigations were exposed, not by the French press, but by the English press.
What we already know for sure is the following:

1. A state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar, was allowed to buy France's leading soccer team, Paris-Saint-Germain, with the help of then-president Nicolas Sarkozy. The former owner of the PSG was a private fund controlled in Europe by one of Sarkozy's close friends. There would have been no deal without the direct consent of Sarkozy -- that is the way France functions.
   
   
2. A state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar, was not only allowed, but actively courted, by French officials to invest in some of France's largest companies, including defense companies, such as Veolia, as well as the Airbus parent company, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS); the energy group EDF; the construction firm, Vinci; and the media and defense group Lagardère.
   
   
3. A state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar, was actively supported in its 2022 bid for the World Cup by the government of France and Nicolas Sarkozy, who declared after the FIFA vote in 2010: "Sport does not belong to a few countries. It belongs to the world... I don't understand those who say that events should always be held in the same countries and the same continents."
   
   
4. There is a significant part of the French political class that seems to consider the Embassy of Qatar in Paris some sort of automatic teller machine (ATM), as has been showed by renowned journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot in their book, Nos très chers émirs (Our Very Dear Emirs) and deplored by the new ambassador of Qatar in France, Meshaal al-Thani.
   
   
5. Since 2008, a state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar, has benefited from a huge tax break in France: the exemption of profits on property sales. In France, profits on property sales are not only taxed at 19%, they are subject to a further CSG/CRDS and social tax (15.5%), resulting in a combined total minimum tax rate of 34.5%. The rule is the same for everyone, whether a person or a corporation. Everyone, that is, but the State of Qatar, when the administration of Nicolas Sarkozy decided to exempt it from the tax. As a result, Qatar's royal family and sovereign fund have since built up a huge portfolio of assets in France, one that dwarfs the portfolio of a state such as Saudi Arabia. Qatar's portfolio ranges from a Champs-Élysées mall to the Lido Cabaret. "Our deficit has destroyed our freedom," said Nathalie Goulet, a centrist senator from Lower Normandy, in 2013. "The Qataris are here to buy, while we are selling our family jewels." Which they did. [1]
   

Qatar and other Gulf states try to benefit from tax exemptions everywhere in the world, but this convergence of facts -- the selling of assets, sports clubs, defense companies and governmental representatives -- is unique to France. It is through these tax breaks -- this is only one of them -- that the Qataris are buying the "jewels" of France. Of course, the U.S. is also selling arms to the Qataris -- the U.S. has a military base in Al Udeid -- but the U.S. is not selling its defense companies to Qatar.

We therefore probably do not even have to wait for the results of the latest investigations to note that France, particularly but not exclusively under the auspices of Nicolas Sarkozy, has literally been bought by a state sponsor of terrorism, Qatar.

At the same time, Islam in France has been spreading. France has been deeply infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood terror organization, which is not categorized in France -- unlike the UK -- as a sponsor of terror. This organization, since it was overthrown by Egypt's current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is now the darling of Qatar. Without Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood would be without a home-base. Given its huge financial, corporate and political dependence on Qatar, it is clear that France -- in the name of "stability" -- would not do anything to displease its darling.

Although France is a member of NATO and a nuclear power, nowhere else in the West is Islamism so deeply embedded in the fabric of the institutions, mind and zeitgeist of a country as it is there. 
Even in the UK, you still find very powerful counter-powers (see the governmental report on the Muslim Brotherhood). Not in France.

Consider the case of the Palestinian official Jabril Rajoub -- sentenced to life in prison in 1970 for throwing a grenade at an Israeli army vehicle, but released, along with others, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers taken hostage by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Rajoub is now chairman of the Palestinian Football Association -- another illustration of the deep infiltration of FIFA by Islamists and Jew-haters sponsored by Gulf States, beginning with Qatar. Would that position even be thinkable without France's sponsorship of Qatar in FIFA? Probably not.

It is true that Qatar is buying assets from around the world, including politicians, not only in France. And it is true that the U.S. is also selling arms to the Qataris, as are many other countries. It is one thing, however, to sell arms, but another to sell your defense companies. It is one thing to be open to foreign investment, but another to give huge tax breaks to a state sponsor of terror so it can acquire the "jewels" of your country.

It is also not an accident that the main face of Islamism in Europe, the Muslim Brother Tariq Ramadan (from his base in Oxford, England) now sees France as the future of Islam in Europe, and not the UK (still number 2 on the list).

The U.S. and other countries may be selling things, but France is selling herself.

Drieu Godefridi, a classical-liberal Belgian author, is the founder of the l'Institut Hayek in Brussels. He has a PhD in Philosophy from the Sorbonne in Paris and also heads investments in European companies.

Judith Bergman : Sweden: A Qatari Protectorate

Sweden: A Qatari Protectorate

by Judith Bergman
May 17, 2017 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10373/sweden-qatar

• At the opening of the mega-mosque, Malmö City Councilor Frida Trollmyr gave a speech in which she continued to use the term "cultural center", never using the word "mosque", as if -- Soviet-style -- the use of certain words could alter reality.
• The mega-mosque was never supposed to be a mosque, according to the Wakf's own application for building permits, but merely a "cultural center" (the application talks about "an activity center for youth and families in Malmö with a focus on Rosengård").
• When the journalist asked Khaled Assi whether his organization was in fact building a mosque, he told her that "there already is a mosque in Malmö" and that the "cultural center" would just contain a "small prayer room".

On April 28, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs of the State of Qatar opened the Umm Al-Mu'minin Khadijah Mosque in Malmö, Sweden. Qatar -- the epicenter of Muslim Brotherhood and the base of its proselytizing megaphone, Al Jazeera -- paid more than 3 million euros to build the mosque, which is almost 2,000 square meters and accommodates up to 2,000 people, making it the largest mosque in Scandinavia.

One astonishing fact about this new mega-mosque is that, according to Swedish mainstream media, the opening never happened. Not a single Swedish news outlet mentioned the opening. Swedish authorities were also completely silent on the topic. On her Facebook and Twitter accounts, Malmö's Mayor, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, wrote about the opening of a new office for army recruits in Malmö and the Swedish coast guard moving its activities to Malmö harbor, but failed to mention the opening of the largest mosque in Scandinavia. The website of Malmö municipality was also silent on the topic.

For information on what goes on in Sweden, therefore, one has to turn to Qatar News Agency, which reported:

"Director of the Islamic Affairs Department at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Khalid Shaheen Al Ghanim said that the mosque was built and furnished by the State of Qatar at a cost of over 3 million euros, under the supervision of the Ministry of Awqaf and in collaboration with the Wakf of Scandinavia in Malmo, Sweden
"He added that the Umm Al-Mu'minin Khadijah Mosque is the largest mosque in Scandinavia and is located on the first and second floors of the four-story building of the Wakf of Scandinavia in Sweden. The mosque is equipped with facilities for people with special needs to perform prayers and others for children and women.
"The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of Swedish local authorities, representatives of Islamic institutions in Sweden and Denmark, as well as a number of businessmen."

The organization in Sweden behind the mega-mosque is the Swedish Wakf, better known as the Islamic Community of Malmö. In its statutes, the Swedish Wakf describes itself as a "religious and cultural community, registered as an ideal institution", and "politically independent".

The neighbors of the mega-mosque, which was never supposed to be a mosque, according to the Wakf's own application for building permits, but merely a "cultural center" (the application talks about "an activity center for youth and families in Malmö with a focus on Rosengård"), protested when they learned of the plans in 2010. The Malmö municipality brushed them off. "It is like any congregational activity, and I find it hard to see that there should be anything to worry about", said Dick Johansson, representing Malmö municipality, at the time.

As it turns out, there is a great deal to worry about.
Several of the Swedish Wakf's members come from the Swedish Islamic Cultural Association, whose spokesman and front figure, Ammar Daoud, was described by Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan in an article from 2006, as the "apprentice" of the Danish imam Abu Laban. Laban, who died in 2007, was known for his jihadist connections and for instigating riots in the Muslim world against Denmark after the 2005 publication of the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten. He led his own Danish Wakf -- Danish Islamic community -- in Copenhagen.

Laban declared Sayid Qutb, the Muslim Brotherhood's chief ideologue, to be his role model, and was a frequent guest preacher at one of the basement mosques of the Swedish Cultural Association in Rosengård (a crime-ridden, infamous no-go zone in Malmö).

Already in 2006, Abu Laban told the daily Sydsvenskan that he wanted to "help" his Swedish Muslim friends establish a new mosque. Abu Laban and Ammar Daoud were unhappy with the existing mosque in Malmö, Islamic Center Mosque, which Abu Laban derisively labelled "Islam-light".

In 2010, Khaled Assi, head of the Swedish Wakf (a position he still holds today), told a Swedish journalist that he was "inspired" by Abu Laban and his Wakf in Denmark. When the journalist asked Khaled Assi whether his organization was in fact building a mosque, he told her that "there already is a mosque in Malmö" and that the "cultural center" would just contain a "small prayer room". Asked about the financing of the project, Assi said that the Wakf was "unassociated with any organization" and that all financial contributors were "individuals from Malmö and Skåne", although they would also approach "individuals" abroad.

At the opening of the mega-mosque of the Wakf on April 28, Malmö City Councilor Frida Trollmyr gave a speech in which she continued to use the term "cultural center", never using the word "mosque", as if -- Soviet style -- the use of certain words could alter reality:

"In many ways, this cultural center is unique but at the same time it is one of many meeting places that has contributed to the diversity that has made Malmö into the city it is today. We Malmöites know what this diversity entails and all its strength -- it is that which has made Malmö into the city it is today."

Trollmyr's speech will go down in history as the moment Malmö municipality finally submitted completely to Islam.

When the Swedish independent news site, Samtiden, tried to reach Trollmyr for comment on how the new gender-separated mosque corresponds to Swedish values about gender equality, about Trollmyr's views on the financing of mega-mosques by foreign dictatorships, and what this entails for Malmö with regards to radicalization, Trollmyr's secretary informed Samtiden that the politician did not have time to answer the questions.

In the former democracy of Sweden, politicians are no longer answerable to the citizens, and can apparently cover up whatever topics they choose, no matter how detrimental to the people who elected them. The mainstream media willingly collude with the authorities by uniformly ignoring the issue.

One would have thought, however, that at least one mainstream Swedish journalist would be interested in uncovering the cover-up of the Swedish authorities. Here are some of the many unanswered questions:

How did a project that the Malmö municipality approved as a "cultural center" end up as the largest mosque in Scandinavia?

How did an organization, the Swedish Wakf, which is supposed to be "politically independent", and which said it was collecting its financing from local Muslims, end up having its mosque bought and paid for by Qatar, the primary exporter -- along with Saudi Arabia -- of Wahhabism in the world?

When did Sweden become a province of the dictatorship of Qatar, where the presence of Qatari government officials at the opening of a Qatari-funded mosque in a major Swedish city does not elicit the slightest media attention, let alone criticism, as if this kind of occurrence were the most routine order of the day? 

Instead, the only Swedish reaction is an embarrassingly sycophantic speech by a representative of the Malmö municipality.
In short, when did the Swedish population vote to become a Qatari protectorate?

Editor's Note: On the same day that Gatestone Institute published this article, May 17, 2017, two news outlets in Sweden published reports about the Umm Al-Mu'minin Khadijah mega-mosque.

Malmö, Sweden. (Image source: David Ramos/Getty Images)

Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.

Giulio Meotti : Qatar's Shopping Spree to Buy and Displace the West?

Qatar's Shopping Spree to Buy and Displace the West?

by Giulio Meotti
November 11, 2016 at 5:30 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9243/qatar-unesco-west

• Qatar sits on the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN agency that has just erased 3000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, and has set its sights on the main chair at UNESCO: as the successor of UNESCO's secretary general, Irina Bokova.
• Human rights organizations have already promoted a campaign to prevent Qatar's Kawari from taking the UNESCO seat. Citing a vast amount of anti-Semitic material present at the Doha Book Fair, Kawari's flagship, the Simon Wiesenthal Center launched a campaign against his candidacy.
• Qatar is the puppeteer behind UNESCO's anti-Semitic resolution on Jerusalem, and a world center of Islamic extremism. Qatar does not make a secret of trying to submit Western culture to the Muslim crescent.

The Soviet Union, during the Cold War, invested in propaganda operations in the West to subvert capitalism and democracy. Communism found precious allies in the so-called "useful idiots" who facilitated Soviet work in academia, newspapers and publishing houses. Political Islam has been using the same convenient outlets and mechanisms to spread Islamic sharia law in the West.

The old role of Soviet propaganda has now been taken up by Islamic regimes. Qatar, for instance, is not only interested in buying large segments of Europe's economy (Hochtief, Volkswagen, Porsche, Canary Wharf and Deutsche Bank), but also in playing a key role in Europe's culture.

Qatar sits on the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN agency that has just erased 3000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, and has set its sights on the main chair at UNESCO: as the successor of UNESCO's secretary general, Irina Bokova.

The favorite for this race is, in fact, the former minister of culture of Qatar from 2008 to 2016, Hamad bin Abdulaziz al Kawari, who currently serves as "cultural adviser to the Emir," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. In 2017, the UNESCO leadership is supposed to go to a representative of the Arab world, according to the rule of geographic rotation; Kawari will have to defeat the candidacy of a Lebanese and an Egyptian.
Kawari recently landed in Rome, apparently to start his promotional tour, and he met with its mayor, Virginia Raggi, who received the Islamic emirate's delegation. Kawari received an honorary degree from Tor Vergata University, Rome's second most important university. The photo of the ceremony speaks volumes about political Islam's level of penetration in Europe's academic culture. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Qatar's former deputy prime minister, even spoke at Tor Vergata.

Qatar's Hamad bin Abdulaziz al Kawari (center), who serves as "cultural adviser to the Emir," is pictured receiving an honorary degree from Rome's Tor Vergata University last month. (Image source: Askanews video screenshot)

Kawari also had a meeting with Italy's minister of culture, Dario Franceschini and minister of education, Stefania Giannini.

Last June, Kawari was also in the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis and sign an agreement between the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Qatar Foundation for Education. Kawari, fluent in Arabic, English and French, is an affable man of the world, at home in Paris, where he graduated from Sorbonne University; his climb to the leadership of UNESCO has the support of the rulers of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

Human rights organizations have already promoted a campaign to prevent Kawari from taking the UNESCO seat. Citing a vast amount of anti-Semitic material present at the Doha Book Fair, Kawari's flagship, the Simon Wiesenthal Center launched a campaign against his candidacy. In a letter to Kawari, Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Wiesenthal Center, said the material on display every year in Doha "violates the values ​​promoted by Unesco".

Samuels listed at least 35 anti-Semitic titles, including nine editions of the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, four editions of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, and four editions of Henry Ford's The International Jew. "From this point of view, Doha is far from Paris," said Samuels, referring to the general headquarters of UNESCO.

Qatar is the puppeteer behind UNESCO's anti-Semitic resolution on Jerusalem, and a world center of Islamic extremism. Doha just held a meeting between the Palestinian Authority's leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and the heads of Hamas, a terrorist organization devoted to the destruction of the State of Israel. Qatar does not make a secret of trying to submit Western culture to the Muslim crescent. The only question is, which country's culture will UNESCO erase next?

The Qatari royal family is now much involved in "the arts." According to the BBC, "To take a recent example, the Qatari royal family sponsored the Tate's Damien Hirst retrospective. It's now moved to Doha, where Tate director Nicholas Serota attended the official launch." Major works by Warhol, Bacon, Rothko, Koons and Hirst are all thought to have made their way to Qatar.

Qatar is buying academic chairs in Europe's universities, such as the pact between Doha and Rome's Tor Vergata. What is the university presumably expected to do for Qatar in exchange for that? Qatar academic purchases are also the subject of Le Monde's investigation entitled, "Tariq Ramadan: le sphinx," which details how Tariq Ramadan, the well-known European Muslim intellectual, was been able to obtain a chair at the University of Oxford. Mediapart, the French leftist magazine, ran a long exposé about Tariq Ramadan as "Qatar's showcase."

The Qatari monarchy, in 2015 alone, donated £11 million to renew Oxford's St Antony's College, where Tariq Ramadan works. Sheikha Moza, the wife of Emir Al Thani, inaugurated the magnificent building designed by the late architect, Zaha Hadid.

Qatar also financed the creation of an Islamic section at the Bloomsbury publishing house and the "Doha Debates" program that aired on the BBC. It would be interesting to know how Qatar's sharia can find agreement with the sybaritic Bloomsbury's British culture.

The attorney-general of Qatar also signed an agreement with the president of Sorbonne University, Philippe Boutry, in Paris, for the enrollment of hundreds of migrants from the Middle East. The Sorbonne accepted 600,000 euros a year, for three years.

Many British universities also receive large donations from Qatar. University College London, for example, has an archeology campus in Qatar. The Qatar Development Fund recently donated $4.3 million to the Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust at Oxford University.

Qatar is also having a shopping spree in American universities, and is funding their university departments in the Arabian desert. Universities such as Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth have all signed agreements with Emir Al Thani. Each will receive $320 million dollars a year.

Students of American Universities based in Doha are also invited to attend the sermons of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual mentor of the Muslim Brotherhood, who is known for his hate-ridden religious edicts. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called it "outrageous" for Cornell University to decide to open a campus in Doha while the kingdom funds Hamas's war against Israel.

The Financial Times once called Qatar "the world's most aggressive deal hunter."

Emir Al Thani is now promoting a takeover of Western culture. But very few in Europe seem to care about that. Is it because "it is difficult to avoid its money and influence", especially for an economically depressed Europe? With their telling silence, are they simply aligning with Qatar's sharia rulers, and hoping they will chosen to be bought out next?

Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.