News Corp. double standard: Saudi funding OK for them but not for Park51

This morning, Fox & Friends fearmongered over reports that organizers of Park51 have not ruled out accepting donations from Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, to finance the project.

Guest-host Alisyn Camerota said: “If the 9-11 families are worried now and are concerned and feel hurt about this mosque, imagine if Saudi Arabia were to give some of this $100 million. ... Saudi Arabia, where the majority of the hijackers, the terrorists came from. You can only imagine how much the victims' families would speak out in that case.” Later, Camerota stated that “the idea for the 9-11 families that Saudi Arabia, the home to the majority of the terrorists, could play a hand in some of this fundraising ... strikes fear, sends a shiver down their spine.”

It seems that, by Camerota's logic, Park51 organizers accepting money from Saudi Arabia would be an outrage, because that's where a majority of the 9-11 hijackers came from.

But would Camerota apply that same standard to News Corp., Fox News' parent company? After all, News Corp.'s “second-biggest shareholder” is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal -- from (gasp!) Saudi Arabia!

It may also come as a shock to Camerota that, according to a December 2009 Variety article, Rupert Murdoch struck a deal giving News Corp. a 10 percent stake in Al-Waleed's media conglomerate, Rotana. Variety reported that the deal “deepens the strategic partnership between Rupert Murdoch and Prince Waleed, who is a substantial investor in News Corp.” and that Fox and Rotana “have a long-standing relationship.”

So, by her own logic, Camerota (and 9-11 families) should be absolutely outraged by this.

But would she ever try to suggest that News Corp. is somehow linked to terrorists because a part owner is from Saudi Arabia? Of course not. Which is why this latest attack on Park51 is nothing more than a ridiculous double standard, and the latest in a long line of smears and falsehoods surrounding the Islamic center.