SAUDI CHARITY

Saudi Telethons By Jonathan V. Last
Meryl Yourish has an outstanding post on charity in the Kingdom of Saud. Embarrassed for only putting up $10 million for the tsunami victims, the Saudi's have upped their ante to $30 million, with the help of a nationwide telethon. But it turns out that this isn't the first time the Saudis have dug deep for others. In 2003 they raised $11.5 million for Iraqis--and $109 million for Palestinian "martyrs." It isn't that Islamists don't know how to give to a good cause. It's that they have very different ideas about which causes are good. We would do well to remember this in the future.