Editorials & Other Articles

A lot has been made of the House of Saud's reluctance to go after the many wealthy Saudi financiers of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc., and that the House of Saud themselves are a lot more responsible (read: complicit) in funding terrorist groups than they would ever admit.

Let's consider, though, that the Saudi royal family is itself inclusive of many rich businessmen and other wealthy people among its estimated 15,000 members, and that they are very much tied to other wealthy Saudi families (and wealthy Arab families in general) by marriage, friendship, business dealings, etc. Therefore, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that they are reluctant to go after those wealthy Saudis (including-potentially-some members of the House of Saud itself-remember, it is a huge family with many rival factions) who do finance terrorism. I could definitely see them being clannish and protective of each other, and defensive against outside criticism.

Also, a lot of the funding for Al-Qaeda, ISIS, et.al, from what I understand, is done through multiple levels of charitable donations-some of it with significant state sponsorship, to be sure. The question, though, is to what extent are the wealthy Saudis (again, including members of the House of Saud) aware of where exactly their money is going when they donate money to certain "charities" or Islamic "foundations."