Saudi Arabia wants to build 200 mosques in Germany.
Saudi Arabia has offered to “help” with the Syrian refugee crisis that’s quickly engulfing Europe–but is it really help if it’s nakedly self-serving?
The U.S.-allied kingdom, which has been one of the leading instigators of radical Islam over the last few decades, has offered help only in the form of building 200 new mosques in Germany.
That comes to about one mosque for every 100 refugees that have recently crossed the border.
Saudi Arabia has allowed 500,000 Syrian workers–which, worth noting, is not refugees, who usually don’t have an income–into their country.
But, along with their wealthy oil-rich neighbors, they have been heavily criticized for not doing much in response to the Syria crisis, which has forced millions to flee as ISIS continues to take over larger and larger portions of the embattled nation.
Part of the reluctance for the Gulf States’ to take in refugees is that Syria is closely allied with Iran, which has had a prickly and competitive relationship with the rest of the Arab world. These nations are concerned that, if they allow in refugees who are loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, there could be increased sectarian tensions.
As a result, Western countries–mainly in Europe–have been forced to pick up the slack. Germany has taken the lion’s share of the burden, offering to take up to 500,000 refugees each year–equivalent to nearly 1% of their population.
But whether or not Germany plans to take Saudi Arabia up on their mosque proposal remains to be seen.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel simply said that, like all proposals, this one would “have to go through the federal authorities.”
