Nathaniel, you quote that Cairo cleric, Dr. Khaled Said, sneering that U.S. aid to Egypt is a form of jizya, the tax Islam levies upon infidels:
We consider this aid to be jizya, not regular aid. . . .They pay so that we will let them be.
He’s not the first to suggest this. From page 165 of my book America Alone, published in 2006:
But the Muslim world has effortlessly extended the concept of jizya worldwide. If you’re on the receiving end, it’s possible to see the American, European and Israeli subsidies of the Palestinian Authority as a form of jizya. Or even the billions of dollars Washington has lavished on Egypt, to such little effect (other than Mohammed Atta coming through the window).
As Steyn goes today, so goes tomorrow’s third-rate Cairo imam.