On the August 19 edition of Fox News' Hannity, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani criticized Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who has proposed building an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York, suggesting that supporters of the center “don't want to answer questions about the imam saying that America was an accessory to September 11.” Giuliani added: “That's the reason I gave the money back to the Arab sheik or prince who gave us $10 million, because he wanted to say that American foreign policy was an accessory to September 11.” Hannity chimed in: “And by the way, that was the right and courageous thing to do.”

That “Arab sheik or prince” who made the donation Hannity praised Giuliani for returning is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is the second largest shareholder, after the Murdoch family, in Fox News parent News Corp., with a company stake of 7 percent.

Oops! Awkward!

This is far from the first time Fox News has attacked Prince Alwaleed; he was also attacked during the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan because he donated money to create an Islamic studies program at Harvard.

By the way, Rauf's suggestion that U.S. foreign policy played a role in the radicalization of some Muslims is hardly a novel or even radical view; both the 9/11 Commission's chair and vice-chair and Fox's own Glenn Beck have forwarded similar views.