Saudi Arabia is the focus of much attention these days, with hopes high that it, too, will normalize relations with Israel. In the meantime, there are many unresolved issues.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, has stated that there will be no deal with Israel “without peace with the Palestinians,” which would include Israel’s return to the pre-1967 borders (“the Auschwitz borders”).
Now comes more disquieting news:
Prince Mohammed’s unpredictable behaviour is becoming a cause for concern. Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince, finds himself under house arrest on what appear to be trumped up charges.
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has made impressive contributions to counter-terrorism and partnered with Western interests:
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was instrumental in countering al-Qaeda after the terror attacks of 9/11. His transformation of the kingdom’s intelligence service provided the US and its allies with important capabilities. The former crown prince took on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the terror group’s most vicious and murderous regional franchises. He bears the scars of almost being blown up in an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber.
Mohammed bin Nayef’s associate also lives under Saudi pressure, despite living in exile in Canada:
Saad Aljabri, an associate of the former crown prince and close ally of western intelligence services who is living in exile in Canada, says he is being pursued and his children are being used as collateral to force him to return to the kingdom. Saudi Twitter trolls defame both men. Rumours circulate in the media of charges against Prince Mohammed bin Nayef being brought later in the year.
The situation is “making many in London and Washington nervous.” And now “Republican senators are pressuring US president Donald Trump to act.”
Concerns about Saudi Arabia don’t stop with the campaign against Mohammed bin Nayef and Aljabri. The ongoing Saudi crackdown on human rights activists is another issue. Five months ago, leading human rights pioneer Abdullah al-Hamid died from a stroke in jail. And less than two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch reported that Saudi Arabia denied “some prominent detainees contact with their family members and lawyers for months,” leading to “serious concerns” about their well-being and safety. Many are women.
This led Human Rights Watch to issue a statement declaring that “Saudi authorities should promptly allow independent international monitors to enter the country, regularly monitor prison and detention facilities, carry out impartial investigations into allegations of torture and suspicious deaths in detention, and conduct private and regular visits with prisoners. “
Also, the well-known blogger Raif Badawi has been in a Saudi jail for eight years, and is sharing a cell with about 15 prisoners, according to his wife Ensaf Haidar. She says he was recently “the subject of assassination attempt” and is on “an open hunger strike because he doesn’t feel protected in jail.” Ensaf Haidar “also explained she sometimes goes months without hearing from her husband because he rarely receives permission to call her.”
All this could foreclose on the possibility of full normalization of relations with Israel.
“Saudi Arabia’s crown prince endangers ties with western allies,” by Malcolm Rifkind, Financial Times, September 16, 2020:
There is a new wave of reform in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates’ momentous decision to forge ties with Israel brings with it many questions about the future for Palestinians, but it confirms a willingness in Abu Dhabi to modernise and inject fresh thinking into the region’s politics.
In its larger neighbour Saudi Arabia, we see a country transforming. Riyadh was once a quiet, private place. No more: before the pandemic lockdown it teemed with activity. Women have been granted new freedoms and are gradually playing a larger role in society. Many Saudi youth are now excited about their country’s future. For those of us who have spent time in Saudi Arabia in recent decades, these are scenes we never witnessed in the past, the results of a reform process.
Despite this progress the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to shock the world. Even friends of the kingdom were astonished by the brutality of this senseless crime. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spoken of his responsibility, as de facto leader of the country. The west has watched closely to see if this was a terrible aberration or indicates a pattern of behaviour.
Now, once again, Prince Mohammed’s unpredictable behaviour is becoming a cause for concern. Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince, finds himself under house arrest on what appear to be trumped up charges.
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was instrumental in countering al-Qaeda after the terror attacks of 9/11. His transformation of the kingdom’s intelligence service provided the US and its allies with important capabilities. The former crown prince took on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the terror group’s most vicious and murderous regional franchises. He bears the scars of almost being blown up in an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber.
Saad Aljabri, an associate of the former crown prince and close ally of western intelligence services who is living in exile in Canada, says he is being pursued and his children are being used as collateral to force him to return to the kingdom. Saudi Twitter trolls defame both men. Rumours circulate in the media of charges against Prince Mohammed bin Nayef being brought later in the year.
We can only speculate about what palace intrigue is driving this vengeful behaviour. But I am more certain about the reaction it is causing. The campaign against Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and his associate Mr Aljabri is making many in London and Washington nervous. Republican senators are pressuring US president Donald Trump to act….
Terry Gain says
So what is President Trump supposed to do? I think he should continue to treat Saudi Arabia as a friend, at least until such time as the Mullahs are overthrown in Iran.
Muslim countries will not become true allies of the United States until they repudiate the Koran and become non-Muslim. Until then they will remain totalitarian, as the Koran prescribes. The imprisonment and disappearance of dissidents is to be expected. It is what totalitarians do, whether they are communist, fascist or Islamic.
Keys says
Yep, “It is what totalitarians do, whether they are communist, fascist or Islamic.”
A sane human being can never trust a Muslim, and especially a country full of them.
Trust but verify is a diplomatic way of saying “we’ll try to get along, but I do not trust you”.
gravenimage says
Alas, the hideous Shari’ah state Saudi Arabia is not our friend.
gravenimage says
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince ‘endangers ties with Western allies,’ making ‘many in London and Washington nervous’
………………..
None of this surprises.
David says
The photo in the article is very telling.
Walter Sieruk says
The Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia in no friend of any Western nation, Saudi Arabia is best defined as a kingdom of Islamic hate
As one Arab scholar who had lived in a Middle Eastern country, for many years revealed “Saudi madrassa notably teach hatred and condemnation of the West and non-Muslims” and “The Saudi Government also provides free textbooks to Islamic schools throughout the world . many of the Saudi- Issued textbook’s contain wording that encourages hatred and intolerance for non-Muslims.” [1]
Saudi Arabia in many ways is no better than Iran.
[1] THEY MUST BE STOPPED by Brigitte Gabriel, page 106
Brigitte Gabriel is the founder and head of http://www.actforamerica.org
gravenimage says
Spot on.
Walter Sieruk says
This new information further proves and exposes Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not and will not spare any of its vast oil wealth as to use its financial resources to fund and promote the advancement of Islam by and through the jihad. By this it means both the stealth jihad and even the subtle support violent jihad.
As explained, for example in the book HOW ISLAM PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD by William Wagner. For on pages 109, 110. The reader is informed that “The Wall Street journal on April 15, 2003 published an article titled ‘In law Seminars, A Saudi Group Spreads Extremism.’ The article began by saying ‘In late February more than 300 young men from across Europe gathered for a weekend seminar on Islamic Law put on by Al-Waqf al-Islaami Foundation.’ The article went on to explain that the most famous graduates from the seminar were half a dozen members of the group of young men from Hamburg, Germany, who plotted the September 11, attacks. The language of the was Dutch, but ‘the message was imported from Saudi Arabia, via Saudi books and lecturers who taught a strict orthodox interpretation of Islam.’ “
Further on the very same page of 110 the information is given that “TIME MAGAZINE , in an article on Saudi Arabia: Inside the Kingdom,’ stated ‘Apart from channeling money to foundations that have assisted terrorist groups, Saudis have for years supported institutions abroad the propagate Wahhabism.’”
In addition to all this, in the book of the title of THE HISTORY OF JIHAD FROM MUHAMMAD TO ISIS, by Robert Spencer on pages 333 through 337.Mr Spencer provides valid information of the subject of “ The Saudi involvement in September 11.”
So with that Islamic regime of Saudi Arabia and its oil money support the different type of the jihad, both stealth and the violent kind, with its Islamic agenda advancement and spread , influence and infiltration of the Western nations ,this kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no friend at all of America or any other country of the West.
Walter Sieruk says
The Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not an innocent nation when it comes to the subject of promoting Islamic terrorism by setting up Muslim brainwashing centers in which impressionable Muslim youth are thoroughly indoctrinated into the ways of Quran based jihad violence with much killing of people who are not Muslim for the advancement of Islam. As the Quran instructs, for example 2:191., 5:33. 9:5,111,112,123 47:4,89.
One scholar, Brigitte Gabriel, who is an from the Middle East had in her book with the title of THEY MUST BE STOPPED informs her readers on page 114. “Saudi Arabia is one of the leading financial contributors to Islamic terrorism worldwide. Part of that contribution is made by funding madrasas throughout the world and the brainwashing of Muslim children with intolerant teaching towards anything non-Muslim.”
Likewise, a former Muslim, Ibn Warraq, in his book which has the title of THE ISLAM IN ISLAMIC TERRORISM on page 353 reveals that “Saudi Arabia has spent millions on Islamic propaganda and on building madrassas.”
Further on the subject that there are Muslim mind control and mind programming places where Muslim males are thoroughly indoctrinated into the strong but blind and unquestioning faith in Koran with all non-watered down; hard core Islam with its militant jihad. Those places, “schools,” are called madrasas. In those Islamic mind programming centers young Muslim male are ingrain in the mindset Koranic dogma of the use of violence and killing for the advancement of Islam. As the Koran instructs. As in, for example, in 2:191. 9:5, 123. 47:4. Many of those who of such center are so much damaged that they are literally dangerous to self and others. As seen many times in jihad suicide, homicide bombing/attacks. For the Koran instructs in 9:111. “The believers fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain, they kill and are killed.” Furthermore, those mind programming places also ingrain the outlandish absurd Koranic doctrine of a sex-filled paradise with many virgins, houris, in it for the Muslim male who dies fighting for the cause of Islam in the jihad.
Such a strange doctrine of a houris filled- place in found in the Koran in 44:54. 55:56. 78:31. Moreover, such Islamic mind programming centers are further explained about by the scholar Don Richardson in his book SECRETS OF THE KORAN which on pages 69,70. Informs the reader that “The world needs to be warned. At least forty million Muslim youth in the Muslim worlds’ religious schools, called madrasa, are avidly memorizing the entire Koran … These schools become breeding grounds for potential terrorists. When male students, isolated from family and friends in madrasa, reach puberty and their hormones are active, there are no girls to date. Instead, Muslim clerics easily shift to focusing the male student’s attention on Koranic verse that promises sex in heaven with dark-eyed houris. Students can only fantasize about martyrdom followed by the sexual release Muhammad promised. This is an unspeakably cruel brainwashing technique , and the Koran is its perfect guidebook.”
In short, Saudi Arabia is very guilty of promoting Islamic terrorism
Just Venting says
The unifier of what is now the KSA, King Abdulaziz, had numerous wives from various tribes as part of his unification of the peninsula. The offspring of these marriages tended to identify themselves based upon the tribal origins of their mothers, NOT their father.
This is another reshuffle of the ruling clique in KSA based upon tribal identities. One bunch of kids, or rather grandkids, is trying to re-align and consolidate power in order to redistribute the wealth of the nation amongst a bunch of entitled and self-serving brats that never had to work a day. Meanwhile, the average Saudi needs to watch what he/she says and does to avoid the wrath of the despots in charge and to earn a living.
The only mitigating factors are in order:
1. Avoid going overboard on quashing other royals to avoid serious backlash from either the SANG or the Army, which are organized around different clans.
2. Avoid aggravating tensions amongst the rest of the clans that may have different loyalties to different royals, based on clanship.
3. Avoid aggravating Sunni/Shiite and MB factions anymore than usual
4. Avoid any hostilities with Israel to avoid embarrassing incidents
5. Keep any “friendly” dealings with Israel under wraps to keep from aggravating the PA, many of whom live and work in the KSA
6. Staying on good terms with the USA. We always put up with their antics due to financial ties and the armies of lobbyists in DC.
If you are a foreigner in the KSA, especially if not a muslim, you keep your mouth shut and head down.
Don’t get worked up over what goes on there. This has gone on every time a new king was needed. If this guy steps out of line, the other royals will help him decide that he would like to spend time with his wives, or girlfriends, or whatever in his Swiss Villa on a generous pension. If they decide they need to keep a real close eye on him, he will decide that he needs the tranquility of his mountain retreat somewhere in the far west of the country.