[Salon] Saudi Arabia’s response to the Israel-Gaza war - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail

[Salon] Saudi Arabia’s response to the Israel-Gaza war Saudi Arabia’s response to the Israel-Gaza war Summary: while clamping down on pro-Palestinian sentiment Saudi Arabia remains conflicted, with the leadership concerned more with supporting Israel than condemning the ongoing slaughter of civilians in Gaza while ordinary Saudis, though they cannot say it, supporting the Palestinian cause. Since Hamas' surprise military offensive on 7 October the Saudi regime has been keen to show that everything in the Kingdom is proceeding completely normally and that the situation in Gaza is having no impact on day to day life there. In part, this is because last week JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and around 6,000 other business titans visited the Kingdom for a three day investment conference, the annual Future Investment Initiative dubbed “Davos in the Desert”. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) also made time to attend a global esports conference in Riyadh together with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo and other celebrities to launch the first esports world cup, even though the competition itself does not actually start till next year. Cristiano Ronaldo applauds Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman at an event to announce the first ever Esports World Cup [photo credit: SPA] Saudi media has been focussing on MbS’s economic reforms and the Riyadh Season, which started on 28 October and is billed as "one of the world’s largest winter entertainment events". Highlights include The Phantom of the Opera, the Ladies Golf European Tour, and the Battle of the Baddest, "an entertainment boxing match between top tier talents Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou to create a memorable and an exciting experience locally and world-wide." No mention, naturally, that one of the leading stars of the Season pulled out on account of the situation in Gaza, Egyptian comic actor Mohamed Salam. Of course the regime has not been able to ignore the situation in Palestine completely. In public fora where the war has been discussed the Saudi regime, like other governments, has tried hard to present itself as statesmanlike in its approach to the conflict and deeply concerned about human rights and international law. At the Baker Institute on 7 October veteran diplomat Prince Turki Al Faisal made a speech blasting both Hamas for its onslaught as well as the long held policies of successive Israeli governments that he said helped lead to the current bloody situation. “I condemn Israel for funnelling Qatari money to Hamas, the terrorist group as defined by Israel” he added. The only reason Prince Turki would have made this outlandish claim, which has been echoed in Israeli media, is because MbS ordered him to do so. And that would be because, once again, MbS has been left seething with jealousy after being thoroughly upstaged by Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim who has won international acclaim for his role brokering hostage releases and Hamas talks, just like he upstaged MbS in 2020 with the Taliban peace agreement. “I’m pleased to say that Qatar is becoming an essential party and stakeholder in the facilitation of humanitarian solutions” tweeted (in English) Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor on October 25. “Qatar’s diplomatic efforts are crucial at this time.” For MbS such accolades from the Israelis bestowed elsewhere are likely to be the hardest aspect of the war so far. During MbS's telephone conversation with President Joe Biden - the first in the three years since Biden became President - the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that MbS, perhaps trying to reclaim the moral high ground, underscored the need to comply with international humanitarian law and urged a return to the peace process. At the UN Security Council in New York on 24 October the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for an immediate ceasefire and a lifting of the blockade. But as in Western countries it would be a grave mistake to take pro-Palestinian statements by Saudi and other Arab leaders at face value because as Dennis Ross, a former senior US official involved in Middle East peace talks, wrote recently for the New York Times, every senior Arab official he has spoken with since the war began is hoping Israel will end Hamas’ rule in Gaza. As a result such statements should be seen for what they are: a PR exercise intended solely for public consumption and as a backside covering exercise against future charges of complicity in Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing. Behind closed doors, MbS has long since placed all his chips on Israel and believes - most likely correctly - that his own future and that of Israel are intimately intertwined. His worst fear now is that having put all his eggs in the Israeli basket the Israelis could somehow manage to lose the war. In order to try and make sure this does not happen, in private MbS is ready to go to any lengths to show support for Israel, whether that means a bloody IDF ground assault in Gaza or ethnically cleansing the Palestinians into the Sinai, although as Maged Mandour explained in our newsletter of 16 October even MbS understands for President Sisi this would likely amount to the political equivalent of slitting his own throat. In order to try and persuade everyone in Saudi Arabia to think as he does, MbS has directed the Saudi security apparatus and propaganda machine to work overtime. Any kind of public expression of pro-Palestinian sentiment in the Kingdom, whether a tweet, post or video, is banned and liable to lead to immediate arrest. Saudi Islamic scholars have informed the population that citizens should stop discussing Gaza. "Leaders," these scholars say "know the issue better than you" and "you are not qualified and have nothing to offer... your analyses are burdensome... Trust [MbS]." Spies at the Etidal Centre, Saudi state surveillance headquarters, have been instructed to track down as many supporters of Hamas and other Palestinian movements as they can. Those few who are known to be affiliated with Hamas who are not already in prison have long since been expelled from the country, along with many other leading Saudi scholars and thinkers. Meanwhile Saud Al Qahtani’s army of electronic flies energetically promotes pro-Israeli accounts and well known pro-MbS Saudi media figures like Saud Al Shammari have appeared on Israeli TV laughing and making light of the conflict. As Sami Hamdi observed in Monday’s podcast, Saudi-controlled Al Arabiya News conducted an aggressive interview with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal asking whether he would now apologise to Israel. Regime-controlled social media accounts have launched strident attacks on the Palestinians, urging Netanyahu to stop at nothing to destroy Gaza, even if it means using a nuclear bomb. As a result Jared Kushner, son-in-law and ex-adviser to the former President, was able recently to tell Fox News Saudi Arabia is “safer” for American Jews than US college campuses. It would be a mistake however to interpret the total absence of public criticism of Israel as meaning that popular opinion in the Kingdom really lies with the Israelis. On the contrary, in reality almost everyone in Saudi Arabia is pro-Palestine, so much so that it is safe to say that if there was freedom in the Kingdom not only would massive demonstrations occur on a scale comparable to what we have seen recently in Yemen and other countries, many Saudis would likely be ready to leave immediately and attempt to join Hamas in Palestine. Choking off all legitimate outlets for pro-Palestinian sentiment may serve MbS’s political goals in the short term, but it also raises the possibility of desperate acts of violence in the Kingdom in the future, whether against the government, MbS himself or foreigners living there. US government travel advice recently raised the terror threat to “Reconsider travel” and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has warned of escalation across the region. “In fact, what we’re seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region,” Austin told ABC’s “This Week” programme.