Academic Jihad

Academic Jihad
Ben-Dror Yemini
Today, Ma'ariv supplement, April 15, 2008

Saudi funding is turning British academic institutions into hotbeds of hatred against the West. British academia, however, won't be confused by recent report.

Since the mid 1990's Muslims, mainly Saudis, have poured money into the British academia: 233.5 million pounds have been donated to eight major British universities, including Oxford and Cambridge. This is the largest foreign contribution to British institutions of higher learning. Although it is no secret, nobody wants to talk about it because of the academic freedom involved: not only is it permissible to teach any unfounded idea, but it is also acceptable to receive money from dark sources.
Still the relevant question remains: is there a connection between certain ideas that seem to be flourishing in the British academia and certain donations, some of them of the very dubious kind?
Members of the academia, those most benefiting from the donations, as well as those who teach, have been protesting for years: "Rubbish! There's no connection between the two." No amount of money will decide who will teach and what will be taught. No way! Money can only influence governments, not academia. Academics are angels.
So along comes a bad boy, Professor Anthony Glees, and applies himself to the task of examining the correlation between the enormous donations, the lecturers and the nature of the studies. Somehow, he concludes quite the opposite. He points out that starting with the mid 1990's, Centres for Islamic Studies have been opened in Britain, the majority of which, wonder of wonders, funded by Saudi donations. Naturally, these funds could have been put to better use, such as studying global warming, or developing new anti-malaria drugs. Not to mention finding cures for cancer or AIDS. But they didn't. Yet, members of the British academia will go on denying any association whatsoever between the money donated and the contents of the studies. Of course there is no association.
But what goes on in those prestigious institutions of higher education under the auspices of Saudi funding? Are they studying how Wahhabism is endangering the world at large and the Muslim world in particular? Are they learning about female oppression? How about the millions of innocent Muslims butchered in the name of political Islam? Seriously, let's not make the Saudis and the British academia laugh!
In order to avoid thinking that the Brits don’t believe in the marriage between money and ideology, we must now reveal that these donations had an official purpose, a political one. According to British spokespersons, the funds were meant to tackle Islam radicalisation, the one promoted by multi-culturalism. The one that allows mosques to promote hatred and terror. So what does one do? One sends all the young Muslims in the UK seeking to pursue their education to those academic centers and turns them into moderates. Therefore, Islamic money is welcome. In fact, money does not even smell. Or does it?
According to Prof. Glees' report, which is causing a bit of a stir in the UK, quite the opposite is true. And it is scary: these study centers located in the major British universities are in fact spreading anti-Western messages and hatred. Naturally, Israel must be included. And yes, the report claims that the two go hand in hand: hatred towards the West and hatred towards Israel. Radicalisation, the very thing they set out to combat, was in fact being groomed. Prof. Glees warns: "If it proceeds, it will create the very situation the Government wants to avoid: the development of self-imposed Muslim apartheid in the UK."
Officials and spokespersons of said universities are quick to retort that nothing is going to change: the donations will continue pouring in. British academia won't be confused by Prof. Glees' findings, severe as they may be. They need these tremendous amounts of money, in order to finance, among other things, studies on the nefarious influence of Jewish finances on world academic institutions.
It is interesting to note that these universities are the same ones that allowed hatred against Israel to take over their grounds to the extent that they are now supporting the anti-Israeli boycott. But there is no connection between Saudi funding and anti-Israeli feelings, or at least that's what the supporters of academic freedom of expression will have you know. Of course there isn't. And they will call for strengthening ties with the enlightened Saudi Kingdom, the very bastion of human liberties in general and women's rights in particular, while endorsing the motion to boycott Israel on the grounds of human rights violations. Those enlightened British academics will.