Alwaght- Saudi Arabia has been described as the "foremost" financier of terrorism and extremism in Britain.
A report published by the Henry Jackson Society links several Saudi charities and organizations to a growth in the number of British citizens becoming radicalized and leaving the country to fight for the ISIS Takfiri terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
The report noted that the form of education advanced by such organizations promotes a hardline Wahhabi ideology endorsed by the Saudi state.
Theresa May under pressure
The findings come as Theresa May faces pressure to publish the government’s own report into foreign funding of terrorism. The Home Office-led report was completed six months ago, and No 10 says ministers are still deciding whether to publish. MPs nervous of upsetting strategic relations in the Persian Gulf have also decided not to publish a separate Foreign Office strategy paper on the region. Sources say the Home Office report directly implicates Saudi Arabia in funding extremists and terrorist groups or individuals in Britain.
The new report is expected to anger Saudi regime authorities as they are involved in a dispute with Qatar which is largely been based on the accusation that the tiny Persian Gulf neighboring state is both the primary funder terrorism overseas and giver refuge to the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas.
The report notes that Saudi Arabia has, since the 1960s, sponsored a multimillion-dollar effort to export Wahhabism across the Muslim world, including to Muslim communities in the west.
Britain's hate preachers are Wahhabi
It adds: “A number of Britain’s most serious hate preachers sit within the Salafi-Wahhabi ideology and are linked to extremism sponsored from overseas, either by having studied in Saudi Arabia as part of scholarship programs, or by having been provided with extreme literature and material within the UK itself.”
Saudi regime spends billions to promote Wahhabism
The report adds that in 2007 Saudi Arabia was estimated to be spending at least $2bn (£1.5bn) annually on promoting Wahhabism worldwide. By 2015 that figure was believed to have doubled.
Tom Wilson, a fellow at the Centre for the Response to Radicalization and Terrorism at the society – and author of the report, said: “Research indicates that some Saudi individuals and foundations have been heavily involved in exporting an illiberal, bigoted Wahhabi ideology. So it is ironic, to say the least, that Saudi Arabia is singling out Qatar for links to extremism when it has patently failed to get its own house in order.”
Extremely worrying
An opposition lawmaker said the report was "extremely worrying" and called on the UK Prime Minister Theresa May to publish an inquiry into the funding of extremist groups in the UK, which was ordered by her predecessor David Cameron in 2015.
"In the wake of the terrible and tragic terrorist attacks we've seen this year, it is vital that we use every tool at our disposal to protect our communities," said Dan Jarvis, a Labor member of parliament. "This includes identifying the networks that promote and support extremism and shutting down the financial networks that fund it."
Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May last month for "suppressing" the report. "We have to get serious about cutting off the funding to these terror networks, including Isis here and in the Middle East," he said in a speech focused on the London Bridge terror attack.
Some of the terrorist groups inspired by Saudi-fronted Wahhabi ideology include ISIS, al Qaeda, Taliban, Boko Haram, al Shabab and many others.
