Former UK Amb.: Saudi Arabia Boosting Extremism In Europe
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia has been funding mosques throughout Europe that have become hotbeds of extremism, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir William Patey said.
His remarks come a day after the government published a brief summary of a Home Office-commissioned report into the funding of extremism in the UK. The full report is not being published for ‘security reasons.'
Patey said he did not believe Saudi Arabia was directly funding terrorist groups, but rather an ideology that leads to extremism, and suggested that its leaders might not be aware of the consequences. "It is unhealthy and we need to do something about it," he said.
"The Saudis [have] not quite appreciated the impact their funding of a certain brand of Islam is having in the countries in which they do it - it is not just Britain and Europe."
Patey, who was the UK ambassador to Riyadh from 2006 to 2010 and previously head of the Foreign Office Middle East desk, also questioned whether Saudi Arabia and its allies had worked out the implications of their bitter dispute with Qatar.
Patey also questioned whether all the emirates within the UAE were united behind the boycott. "This is about Abu Dhabi asserting its dominance in foreign policy issues, because this is not in Dubai's interest," he said.
Speaking at the same event, Michael Stephens, the head of the Royal United Services Institute Qatar desk, said the Gulf row may lead to an intractable dispute that could prompt investors to think seriously about disinvesting across the Gulf.
"We are now facing five weeks of the conflict when most people thought it would last 72 hours," he said, calling for a series of de-escalatory measures leading to a joint agreement to fight extremism.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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