US President Biden bumps fists with Saudi crown prince: state TV
Joe Biden has bumped fists with the Saudi Crown Prince after vowing to make a “pariah” of his kingdom for allegedly ordering an infamous killing.
US President Joe Biden has met with Saudi leaders and shared a fist bump with the man he accused of ordering Jamal Khashoggi’s murder after promising to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” over the journalist’s death.
Biden landed in Saudi Arabia and met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, sealing a retreat from his campaign pledge to turn the kingdom into a “pariah” over human rights abuses.
US intelligence officials previously determined that bin Salman “approved” a 2018 operation that killed Khashoggi - a Washington Post columnist.
When asked in June if he would be meeting with the crown prince, who is also widely referred to as MBS, Biden told reporters he would not. “I’m not going to meet with MBS,” he said then. “I’m going to an international meeting, and he’s going to be part of it.”
But on Friday, state media showed images of the prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler who has denied any role in Khashoggi’s death, greeting Biden at a palace in the coastal city of Jeddah, the last stop of the president’s Middle East tour. The meeting sparked fierce backlash from social media users and activists who expressed concerns that Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia would “rehabilitate” the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“He will become the new Putin,” Saudi activist Lina al-Hathloul - whose sister was infamously jailed in the Kingdom for years - told multiple US TV stations.
As President Biden is fist bumping the Saudi Crown Prince, @LinaAlhathloul, the sister of human rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, has a message to @POTUS: pic.twitter.com/TfVY90HczQ
— The Freedom Initiative (@thefreedomi) July 15, 2022
Biden travelled to the city on Air Force One from Israel, making him the first US leader to fly directly from the Jewish state to an Arab nation that does not recognise it.
In 2017, his predecessor, Donald Trump, made the journey in reverse. Biden, wearing sunglasses, emerged from Air Force One to walk down a purple carpet and be greeted by Mecca province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal and Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington.
Later, state television Al-Ekhbariya showed Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto leader, greeting Biden with a fist bump and escorting him into Jeddah’s Al-Salam palace.
Biden met Saudi King Salman, 86, then he and Prince Mohammed sat across from one another at a large conference table for a “working session”, flanked by top officials.
White House officials have said that Biden is looking to “recalibrate, not rupture” relations with Saudi Arabia.
After taking office last year, Biden’s administration released US intelligence findings that Prince Mohammed “approved” an operation targeting journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose gruesome killing in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate sparked global outrage.
Saudi officials deny Prince Mohammed’s involvement and say Khashoggi’s death resulted from a “rogue” operation. But it marred the crown prince’s reputation as a potential reformer.
Biden now appears ready to re-engage with a country that has been a key strategic ally of the United States for decades, a major supplier of oil and an avid buyer of weapons.
Washington wants the world’s largest exporter of crude to open the floodgates to bring down soaring gasoline prices, which threaten Democratic chances in November midterm elections.
Israeli ties
US officials are also touting efforts to promote integration between Israel and Arab nations.
Saudi Arabia has refused to join the US-brokered Abraham Accords under which Israel normalised ties with the kingdom’s neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in 2020.
Riyadh has repeatedly said it would stick to the decades-old Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.
But it is showing signs of greater openness towards Israel, and announced Friday it was lifting overflight restrictions on aircraft travelling to and from Israel, a move Biden hailed as “historic”.
Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed the decision as “only the first step” towards bolstering ties with Arab nations.
On Saturday Biden is due to meet Arab leaders from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq to discuss volatile oil prices and Washington’s role in the region.
“Jamal Khashoggi, will you apologize to his family?†I shouted to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the end of the press pool spray.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) July 15, 2022
MBS had a slight smirk, before a Saudi aide grabbed my arm tightly. pic.twitter.com/htrSAvu2f7
‘Political horizon’ in Bethlehem
Jeddah marks the final stop on Biden’s Middle East tour, following talks on Friday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and meetings with Israeli officials a day earlier.
With Palestinians banned by Israel from political activity in Jerusalem, the US president travelled to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank to meet Abbas.
Standing alongside him, Biden reiterated his commitment to a two-state solution to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There “must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see”, Biden said.
“I know that the goal of the two states seems so far away,” Biden added. Abbas said he was “taking steps” to improve relations with Washington and aimed to see the US consulate to Palestinians in Jerusalem – which Trump closed – reopen.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations moribund since 2014, the US delegation has been focusing on economic measures.
Biden made clear on Thursday he had no plans to reverse the controversial move by Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which infuriated Palestinians who see its eastern sector as the seat of their future state.
‘Justice for Shireen’
Biden was greeted in Bethlehem with a billboard reading “Justice for Shireen”, referring to Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Palestinian-American journalist shot dead in May while covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.
The family requested to meet Biden during his visit, but his administration has instead invited them to Washington.
“I think if President Biden (can) find an hour and a half to go and attend a sport activity, he should have respected the family and given them 10 minutes to listen to them,” said Samer Sinijlawi, chairman of a Palestinian non-profit, the Jerusalem Development Fund, after Biden on Thursday attended a ceremony for Jewish athletes.
Speaking alongside Abbas, Biden said the US “will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting” of Abu Akleh’s death.
Washington earlier this month concluded she was likely shot from an Israeli military position, but that there was no evidence of intent to kill.
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