Appearing as a guest on Monday's CNN Tonight, CNN host Fareed Zakaria indicted the "religious establishment" in some Arab countries for fomenting terrorism in a way that would have liberals accusing him of bigotry or profiling if uttered by a more right-wing analyst.
After remarking that the concert attack in Britain was "radical Islamic terrorism -- let's call it what it is," he went on to complain that Arab states have "funded, financed and encouraged" the ideology, and that the "religious establishment" in their countries "has encouraged this kind of violence, these kind of views about Westerners and any nonbelievers."
Shortly after 10:30 p.m. ET, Zakaria showed a willingness to use terminology about radical Islam that many liberals shun: "It's a reminder that this problem of jihadi terrorism -- of radical Islamic terrorism -- let's call it what it is -- is with us, is still alive. It still takes very few people to cause a great deal of damage."
A few minutes later, after host Don Lemon brought up President Donald Trump's speech to the leaders of several dozen Muslim countries, Zakaria complained about Saudi Arabia's support for its "religious establishment" as he responded:
I hope that those measures, you know, the Saudis have announced these kind of measures many times before. And yet they continue in many ways to support a religious establishment that preaches a kind of intolerance and exclusion that feeds this kind of jihad. I think, again, it reminds us, you know, a lot of the President's speeches and talks and policy have been directed against Iran, and have been accommodating towards Saudi Arabia and some of those other key Arab states.
He then predicted that the perpetrators of the concert attack will be discovered to have come from such a background as he continued:
It's a reminder that the danger we face -- the terrorism we face has historically emanated out of Saudi Arabia. It has emanated out of the Sunni Arab world. We don't know yet, but I think it is highly likely that the terrorists we are talking about right now comes out of that tradition. All of them prior to this point have come out of that tradition.
Zakaria added:
This problem of radical Islamic terrorism emanates out of the heart of the Arab world, has been funded, fueled, encouraged by countries like Saudi Arabia. And let's hope that they can now finally turn a corner, finally disassociate themselves from a religious establishment that has encouraged this kind of violence, these kind of views about Westerners and any nonbelievers.
He then concluded his analysis:
But so far, it hasn't happened, which is why you can ... shut down one particular group -- whether it's al-Qaeda or ISIS -- it keeps coming back -- it keeps bopping back up. And why is that? Because the ideology continues to be spread, funded, financed and encouraged. And that's where we have to fight the war.
