Harvard University and Georgetown University each announced Monday that they had received $20 million donations from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a Saudi businessman and member of the Saudi royal family, to finance Islamic studies. The prince was fifth on the Forbes 400 list of wealthy people this year, with a fortune of $23.7 billion.
In October 2001, then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani returned a $10 million check from the prince after a news release quoted the prince as calling on the American government to “re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.”
Being the intelligent man that he is, Giuliani refused the check and told the arab to shove it where the koran don’t shine.
