Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has stated the act carried out by Israel has been a collective genocide against the people in Gaza, which is one of the most recent criticisms against the country since the beginning of the war that has now lasted for over a year.
The crown prince made the comment when the leaders of Islamic nations gathered in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Monday. Speaking further, the leader of the country expressed his condemnation and absolute refusal of the collective genocide committed by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people.
In some of the figures made public, it has been stated that the war in Gaza has claimed not less than 43,000 lives since the conflict began a year ago. It was also reported on Tuesday that not less than 30 persons have been killed by Isaerel in the country, which has made the figures keep claiming. The recent attack was said to have taken place in Gaza City and northern Gaza; the attack has left so many people still under the rubble, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal, said.
In an effort to stop the violence, the kingdom made a move last week to engage in a negotiation with Israel that would be a historic agreement. In a recent confirmation, it was disclosed that the talks are currently off the table. It was noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the request.
In the comments made by the Saudi crown prince, he has gone ahead to defend Iran, which is far away from his comment made in 2017, where he compared the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Adolf Hitler.
The crown has called on the international community to ask Israel to rest the sovereignty enjoyed by France but stop the attacks carried out on the nation. The recent comments come after Riyadh and Tehran fixed ties last year after decades of hostility over regional influence.
As efforts for negotiations continue to drag, with no solutions in sight at the moment, the Saudi Arabian government have shifted its usual condemnation to accusing Israel of carrying wide killings in the country. They have gone on to accuse the country of carrying out what has been referred to as genocide in the country.<
The Iranian government was in attendance at the conference in Riyadh; the nation was represented by the First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, while speaking at the meeting, mourned the deaths of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. Saudi Arabia strongly opposes Iran-backed militias such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were among others attending the high-level meeting.
Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who were also at the meeting, remain mired in an ongoing conflict over Turkey’s military operations in northern Syria and its support for rebel groups.
Saudi Arabia’s governmental state agency said Monday’s meeting’s goal was “unifying positions” and “exerting pressure” on the international community to take steps to end the “ongoing attacks and establish lasting peace” in the region.
Some experts who have spoken in the wake of the event have noted that the MBS went on to organise the event to speak with regional allies and old friends, which will be part of unifying Islamic nations ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s assuming office.
When the campaigns for the US elections started in 2024, till the end, Donald Trump had not spoken about the approach that would be taken to address the conflict that resulted from the Israel-Hamas war. These policies would be implemented, which would be distinct from the police implemented by Joe Biden, who will leave office in January. While speaking in April, Donald Trump disclosed that Israel needs to “finish what they started” and “get it over with fast,” noting that it was “losing the PR war” because of the images coming out of Gaza.
Brian Hook, Trump’s Iran envoy during his first administration, told CNN’s Becky Anderson last week that the incoming US president would likely seek to reinstate the sanctions regimes on Tehran to isolate Iran diplomatically and weaken it economically.
Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who sources say is conceivable to be his secretary of state selection, have hardline procedures on Iran.
Hook stated that Trump has a large number of friendships in the region with friends, mostly leaders of the countries. Hook further disclosed that he thinks the relationship will continue to deepen as Hooks noted that Trump’s election will continue to help the corporations of the countries. Hook further expressed optimism that the friendship will deepen in the coming years.
It has been disclosed by an analyst that Saudi Arabia, which had supported Trump in his policy of Iranian containment during his first term, is cautious this time of sustaining a maximum pressure campaign on Iran due to suspicion of US readiness to protect the kingdom in the face of an Iranian attack, analysts say.
Instead, the kingdom has been expanding its relationship with Iran. This week, MBS spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, welcomed his vice president in Riyadh and dispatched the Saudi army chief of staff to Tehran for meetings with his Iranian counterpart.
Executive vice president of the Washington, DC-based Quincy Institute Trita Parsi disclosed that the kingdom is trying to make sure it’s staying out of any war that involves the US, Israel and Iran because of domestic anger against Israel from their populations but also because of the effectiveness of Iranian ballistic missiles.
Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said there are several political risks to normalizing relations with Israel today. He went on to state that with normalization, Saudi Arabia recognizes that it will be risking possible internal political dissent, a regional Arab leadership role, and a global Islamic leadership role that is very contested.” Ibish said.
According to Ibish, the message from Riyadh is they want to play ball, but they have to give them something, and not just on Palestine, but on Iran too … Ibish continued and noted that they are not going to do a deal with the Israelis.
