Last night, FoxNews Special Report fielded both a 'hard news' segment and pundit panel commentary drawing attention to Geert Wilders' whose poll standing has soared in The Netherlands in the wake of the dissolution of the Fourth Balkenende coalition government and a snap election for a new parliament is scheduled for June 9^th.

A call from Andy Bostom drew my attention to the fact that despite FoxNews Channel labeling itself as “fair and balanced,” according to Bostom, it was “out-doing the BBC” in castigating Wilders as a populist demagogue. A man, who according to  Charles Krauthammer doesn’t know the difference between Islam and Islamism. We wonder if Krauthammer knows much about the former to enable him to distinguish it from the latter.  But neither does Glen Beck, after all he said he read the Quran and considers Islam a religion of peace and calls Wilders a “fascist.”

Note what David Swindle at David Horowitz’s RealNews blog had to say about last night’s FoxNews Special Report in When Fox News Might as Well Be MSNBC: Special Report Trashes Geert Wilders:

Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier featured a segment tonight on Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ blasphemy trial in the Netherlands. (See some of NRB’s John L. Work’s posts on it here and here.)

The segment featured these descriptors of Wilders:

“A man who inspires fierce emotions.”

“Anger on the streets of London. The object of the demonstration was a recent visit by Far-Right Dutch politician Geert Wilders.”

“His Anti-Muslim rhetoric makes him a target of critics.”

“Wilders says Muslim head scarves should be banned, he’s branded the Muslim prophet Muhammed a pedophile and likened the Muslim Koran to Mein Kampf.”

Later on Special Report they featured a panel in response to the story in which host Jim Angle questioned Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and A.B. Stoddard. Krauthammer said that Wilders was wrong about Islam — that the Dutch politician did not see a difference between Islam and Islamism. *Rolls eyes.* So those who follow “Islam” ignore passages of the Koran and those who follow “Islamism” actually do what the book tells them to do? Is that right, Charles? Just want to make sure I’m up to speed on the preferred Orwellianisms on the Politically Correct Right.

Stoddard’s comments — she said that Wilders saw no difference between terrorist Muslims and non-violent Muslims — indicate that it’s likely that her first exposure to Wilders was the segment. And Kristol? He dismissed Wilders as a “demagogue.”

This is the latest evidence that makes Prince Alaweed bin Talal, the 22^nd richest person in this world with wealth valued at over $16 billion in 2009 according to Forbes , one savvy  investor when it comes to influencing America’s opinion-makers and ultimately the American  public about his version of Islam: Wahhabism.  Bin Talal is the second largest stockholder  of NewsCorp, Inc. that owns FoxNewsChannel. When he purchased 5.5 % of NewsCorp back in 2005, he immediately called his newfound friend, Rurpert Murdoch and asked him to pull those lurid filmed segments on French Muslims youths torching cars in Paris, and other major cities in France and instead talk about poverty and unemployment as the cause of these Jihadi-like outbursts. When that occurred, a lot us knew then that FoxNewsChannel was lost. So, when this Special Report segment aired last night, as night follows day, the pundits became an amen corner, to quote Pat Buchanan, not for Israeli, but rather for Saudi Arabian interests.

Diana West has been tracking Alaweed’s influence at FoxNews.  In her “Death of a grown Up" blog post, Fox News: Best Investment Saudi Prince Talal Ever Made, she noted this about last night Special Report news and panel segment:

It was pile-on time at Fox News tonight as Glenn Beck, Charles Krauthammer, a gal whose name I missed and Bill Kristol all branded Geert Wilders beyond the pale tonight.

Beck classified Geert as a fascist.

Krauthammer said Geert didn't know the difference between Islam and Islamism -- never mind that according to Krauthammer's idea of  Islamic scholarship, neither did Mohammed.

The gal is the middle said she agreed with Imam Krauthammer and added that if people like this (Geert) are elected to lead Holland it will suffer the consequences.

Kristol called Geert a demagogue.

In other words, a stomach-turning display -- or should I say halal?

Fact is, this anti-Geert pundit solidarity will only delight Newscorp stakeholder Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. That's because it is Wilders in the Netherlands who stands as the unexpectedly strong spearhead of resistance to the Islamization of Europe and the wider West. As a scion of the most powerful sharia  dictatorship in the world, Prince Talal doesn't like that. How fortunate for him  that Fox News doesn't like it, either.

In an earlier TownHall.com column, West raised the question of FoxNews Channel ‘s pro-Muslim influence on its ‘fair and balanced’ new and commentary presentations might cause it to be registered as Foreign agent:

 First off, is that a farfetched question? Not when a leading member of the ruling family of the Sharia-totalitarian "kingdom" of Saudi Arabia, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has made himself the second-largest shareholder of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Fox News' parent company.

There have been other eye-catching displays of Alwaleed's largesse -- $500,000 in 2002 to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Hamas- and Muslim-Brotherhood-linked entity, and a whopping $27 million, also in 2002, to the families of Palestinian "martyrs," aka suicide bombers. These, along with Alwaleed's self-described "very close relationship" with Murdoch son and apparent heir-apparent James, a left-wing global-warmist with virulently anti-Israel views, should only deepen Americans' concerns about Fox's ties to "the prince." Recently, Murdoch and Alwaleed have discussed expanding their business relationship through the Murdoch purchase of a substantial stake in Rotana, Alwaleed's huge Arab media company.

Before entering his Murdoch association, Alwaleed gave a remarkably candid interview in 2002 about what Arab News described as his belief that "Arabs should focus more on penetrating U.S. public opinion as a means to influencing decision-making" rather than boycotting U.S. products, an idea of the moment.

The Arab News reported: "Arab countries can influence U.S. decision-making 'if they unite through economic interests, not political,' (Alwaleed) stressed. 'We have to be logical and understand that the U.S. administration is subject to U.S. public opinion. We (Arabs) are not so active in this sphere (public opinion). And to bring the decision-maker on your side, you not only have to be active inside the U.S. Congress or the administration but also inside U.S. society.'"

When I commiserated with Bostom  last night, we wondered what FoxNews would  say, should Wilders be asked by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to form a ruling coalition as his Freedom party could emerge as the strongest party  in the upcoming June 9^th parliamentary election. Then, we’ll see whether FoxNews changes its line from trashing Wilders to consider him the equivalent of  a wartime  Churchillian figure rolling up his sleeves to stop “the tsunami of Islamification” of his native  Holland and Europe.