Dubai's 'Boycott Israel' Sheik Funded Bill Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton has accepted at least $1.6 million from the United Arab Emirates, including $300,000 from a Dubai sheik who adamantly backs the country's controversial boycott of Israel.

On Jan. 17, 2002, Mr. Clinton was paid $300,000 to address the Science, Technology and Arts Royal Summit in Dubai at the invitation of Crown Prince and U.A.E. Defense Minister Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Less than three months later, Sheik Mohammad urged the United Nations to approve the use of force against Israel to halt what he called the Jewish state's "butchery" of Palestinians, according to London's Financial Times.

Mr. Clinton's benefactor called for then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "stand trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal," where Sheik Mohammad said he would "have a prominent place in the list of world's killers, terrorists and criminals."

The Dubai sheik then reminded that "Arabs have a wide room for political, diplomatic and economic moves and have the right, at least, to revive the Arab economic boycott to Israel."

Mr. Clinton accepted another $300,000 from the Dubai regime for a speech in 2005. And his presidential library in Little Rock has collected seven-figure sums from several Arab governments participating in the anti-Israel boycott, including Dubai.

In September 2005, the New York Sun reported:

"When the library opened last year, a computer display in the exhibit halls included information on some, but not all, donors. The Saudi Royal Family and the governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar all gave $1 million or more."

The paper noted that after it published a previous list including Mr. Clinton's Arab donors, "the computer display was shut off. It has not been restored."

On Thursday morning, NewsMax called the offices of Mr. Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Charles Schumer, Rep. Peter King and the Anti-Defamation League in New York, inquiring about the appropriateness of Mr. Clinton taking so much cash from a country that boycotts Israel.

None of the calls had been returned by press time.