WEEP NOT FOR JAMAL KHASHOGGI

Biden administration hindering Saudi-Israeli ties

 

By Najat Al-Saied

 

Israel Hayom

April 5, 2021

 

In rewarding political Islamist ideologues, the enemies of peace and stability in the region, as well as simultaneously punishing America's allies, the Biden administration's recent decisions have sent dangerous signals.

For instance, on what basis did the Biden administration scramble to resume negotiations with Iran? What did the Iranian regime do for it to be rewarded with this kind of appeasement, while at the same time Biden's administration freezes weapons sales to America's allies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, even though the latter has launched a historic peace process, the first "warm" peace with Israel in the region?

The Biden administration has also removed from the terrorism list Yemen's Houthi rebels, which is affiliated with Iran, while it keeps attacking Saudi Arabia over the Jamal Khashoggi case.

No one can deny that Khashoggi's assassination, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself described as a "heinous crime" and a "mistake" on the part of Saudi government agents, is indefensible. But the danger here is that this anti-Jewish political Islamist, a strong advocate of the Muslim Brotherhood who mourned the death of Osama bin Laden, is portrayed as some kind of virtuous idol and a proponent of democracy and freedom.

Khashoggi was never a genuine advocate of these or he would have called for this a long time ago, and he would never have held a government position, such as media advisor to Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former director of Saudi intelligence. He only called for democracy and freedom after MBS came to power because he was against his reforms, chiefly the crown prince's battle with the Muslim Brotherhood and radical supporters of the religious institute, because he knew such reforms would put an end to political Islam not only in Saudi Arabia but across the region.

Khashoggi also attacked Saudi intellectuals who called for the normalization of relations with Israel. He also threatened the author of this article for pursuing peace with Israel, saying, "I wish you and people like you would shut up because you are the cause of the Arabs' and Palestinians' hatred of our country."

I have long held the conviction that normalizing relations with Israel is in the best interests of the Arab Gulf States. This is not only because it will unite them against the Iranian regime, but also because a two-state solution under the current corrupt Palestinian Authority would be of no benefit to the Gulf States or even to the Palestinian people.

It is quite surprising that the Biden administration is portraying a Muslim Brotherhood advocate as some kind of virtuous idol and appeasing to a rogue regime in Iran, while at the same time continuing to question MBS's role in Khashoggi's murder even though the latest intelligence report about the case adds no further evidence to the claim that MBS is culpable.

Other than MBS, nobody is going to expose the reality of the corrupt Palestinian factions to the Saudi public because nobody has the courage to speak up for normalizing relations with "pragmatic" Israel. The leader, who has been able to modernize the country in such a short space of time and stands up to the radical religious institute – which has set the country back decades – will find a way to normalize relations even with the status of the Kingdom as the guardian of Islamic holy places in Mecca and Medina.

However, the Biden administration has done nothing to assist in this, rather it has made the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel extremely difficult by appeasing hateful, anti-Jewish Islamist ideologues. In doing this, the Biden administration is emboldening those ideologues, which weakens the position of MBS and his supporters, both regionally and domestically, to challenge campaigns of anger contrived by extremists who aim to turn the Islamic world against any idea of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia on account of its religious significance.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Najat Al-Saied is a Saudi-American.