@Gerald, is your issue with Iran that it is violent and repressive enough to crush it's opposition ( in the last 12 months twice )? Are you wanting it to keep stoning adulterers and hanging gays?

As for not being responsible for civilian deaths, who do you think armed trained and funded the shia militia responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Iraq? Hint - it wasn't the US.

@Daniele: What you see as "Zionist arguments" are just the simple truth. The "paranoia" is in the eye of the beholder.

I think those tyrants give money to universities for more than just prestige and respectability. Something (whether the tainted money or something else) has certainly caused formerly respectable places like LSE and UCL to tolerate an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish atmosphere. They've paid the piper so of course they are calling the tune.

Oh NO! another paranoid Zionist!
There is no escape from them.
Amazing how you guys must bring Israel in just about every topic under the sun! give it a rest!
"Academics have been paid for and purchased to preach anti-Israeli sentiment" Are you totally insane?

Sally, the anti-Zionists always use this line of attack. To state that Israel is a democratic country with freedom of religion is against their doctrinal thinking. To defend Israel (or the USA for that matter) by their ideology must mean that you are taken in by propaganda. So they try to defame the anyone who does not follow their prejudices since they are totally lacking in rational argument.

I didn't not bring Zionism up here! YOU (the last 3 commenters) DID! I am not seeing Zionist conspiracy everywhere, YOU see anti-Jewish conspiracy everywhere.
Amazing how paranoid fanatics can turn things around to suit their obsession!
Oh! and I had no idea that the LSE was a "hot bed of radicalism". This is so ludicrous one has to laugh!
Luddite: you sound more and more like a moronic troll.

@Daniele, you are of course aware that the centre that took all this money from Qaddafi not only refused to take money from Israel - which presumably is not repressive or violent or dictatorial enough - but has two out of four members demanding cutting all links with only one country.... you guessed it - Israel.

Wait just one minute! What about the repugnant regimes that are propped up by Big Oil and Big Banks? I dont see much shame there! Is it ok to invest in China? Is it OK to receive funds from China? China routinely abuses human rights. How about the UK Government decides to fund universities adequately and then they would not have to seek or accept contributions from other countries or "repugnant regimes"?

Equally repugnant but not mentioned here is the money universities have taken from corrupt economic terrorists and money-grabbing often extremist zionism supporting individuals and companies. And why shouldn't Saudi Arabia be sharing its largess with universities when its is so chummy with BAE systems and Blair to the extent that serious fraud was left uninvestigated. There is an undertone of racism and Islamophobia in this article. Rake the muck more evenly if you must.

But Quentin, dont you realise that purely by virtue of their part in the Great Global Convergence Project, China is possibly the most democratic country on Earth! Because everyone knows that capitalism and democracy go hand in hand (music swells, the sun rises, and - gasp! - its morning in Amurrika...)

Interesting! When shall the western world stop this shameful hypocricy? It is a known fact that England and much of the west built their empires by oppressing others and you continue doing so until today. It is insane to read that all these rage against LSE and other institutions is from people/media with interests of the 'libyan people' at heart. It is not people. It is their oil that counts. Until a day before, Gadhafi was the dear friend of the West. Only after crushing protestors (using the weapons you supplied him!)he became your enemy and anybody associated with him is now a villain. Tragic indeed. But if I may ask: Who has been propping up Ghadhafi and his cousins in the Middle East? all these bullets and tanks killing 'Libyan people-so much loved in the West' where were they made? Soo much with 'stolen from Libyan people' I guess. When Gadhafi was investing all these stolen billions of ££..was the British Banks unaware of human rights record of those depositing the money? and here today..shamelessly..we are told that..Britain has freezed Gadhafi`s asset in Engalnd on behalf of the 'Libyan people'. God Knows how many dictators have stashed billions in the financial system of UK..and ofcourse everybody is quite...next time..we will see Chancellor Osborne freezing Saudi`s billions...thats incase Saudi`s 'abuse human rights' or kill protestors...against the wish of the west.

Honestly as a person who lived under dictatorship propped up by the West for much of my life, I see this as another insults on the people in these countries. Today, Saudi Arabia has state of the art millitary, so is Egypt et al..all supplied by Western countries and used to kill and oppress all those with different ideas from the regimes. And here we have same people telling us that..they are for democracy! You should feel ashamed of yourself!

Honestly, I feel sick with this western culture of double standard. This double standard has to stop, if you really want people to take you serious when you talk of human rights in other countries. I for one, I dont trust anybody/media in the west that you are so concerned with the plight of the dying masses. What LSE or for that matter Oxford or anybody else did..is the usual western play. Shame that today people have guts to rebel Gadhafi as a dictator! Yet when you wanted his oil he was your friend and ally. and ofcourse SAS operatives were caught there in Libya..what were they doing? W. Hague knows better.

I have no problem with people feeling 'sorry' for Libyans, but clearly we know this isnt the case. And thats why some of us..dont believe your rhetoric! Because you never mean what you preach. You simply want to continue exploiting others.

Good luck with the next target-Iran!

@winniethepooh

I resent the accusation of racism and Islamophobia. That Saudi Arabia has an extremely poor record of human rights is a matter of public record. The reason I've focussed on donations from the House of Saud, rather than, say, China - which Simcox's excellent report also mentions - is that Saudi Arabia is far more likely to collapse in a similar fashion to Libya, leaving the universities that benefited from the House of Saud's largesse exposed to the same criticism as LSE's decision to accept money from Libya. Race and religion has nothing to do with it.

Please check your facts: the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is actually not part of the University of Oxford. And accepting donations from "morally dubious sources" whilst not optimal, is sometimes unavoidable. Many would argue that the US government is morally dubious, not to mention big pharma, oil companies, the Chinese government...the list is a long one.

And I know that Dorian's comment isn't even worthy of reply, but I am intrigues as to what exactly is a "bastion of the bourgeoisie" and how Oxford "contribute[s] to oppresion at home"...

@Oxfordalumnus

I have amended the article to make it clearer that OCIS and Oxford Uni are technically separate institutions. Apologies if it was unclear.

But surely taking money from Saudi Arabia, is merely recycling the cash taken from the UK motorists!

One can't help wondering if Mr Robinson every considered writing «Top British universities regularly accept multimillion-pound donations from regimes with extremely poor human rights records, such as those of the United States and the UK». Or does he rather believe that engaging in continual wars of aggression abroad is commensurate with human rights ? If so, perhaps he should consider researching what the Nürnberg Tribunal had to say on the matter....

Henri