[ad_1]
During a gathering of leaders of Islamic nations hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Monday, the country’s de facto leader said: “The Kingdom reiterates its condemnation and absolute rejection of the collective genocide committed by Israel against the fraternal Palestinian people.”
More than 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its attacks on the enclave last year.
Yesterday, at least 30 people were killed in Gaza City and the northern part of Gaza, and many more are still under the rubble, said the spokesman of the Gaza Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Last year, the kingdom was in the process of negotiating a historic normalization deal with Israel, but recently said it was “not on the table” without Palestinian statehood, a demand rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Saudi crown prince, widely known by his initials MBS, also defended Iran – a stark contrast to his comments in 2017 comparing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Adolf Hitler.
MBS called on the international community to “force Israel to respect Iranian sovereignty and not attack (Iranian) territories.”
Riyadh and Tehran mended ties last year after decades of hostility over regional influence.
With no solution to regional conflicts in sight and amid a stalled normalization process with Israel, Saudi Arabia has shifted its messaging over the past year from condemnations to publicly accusing Israel of genocide while calling for more international protection for Iran.
Iran sent its first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref to a conference in Riyadh on Monday, who in his speech 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.
Others attending the high-level meeting included Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Lebanese Interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian Bashar al-Assad, who were also at the meeting, remain embroiled in a conflict over Turkey’s military operations in northern Syria and its support for rebel groups.
The stated aim of Monday’s meeting was to “unify positions” and “put pressure” on the international community to take steps to end “ongoing attacks and establish lasting peace” in the region, the Saudi government’s state agency said.
Unification after the US elections
Experts say MBS has rallied regional allies and old enemies to show his strength in uniting Islamic nations before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump did not specify how he would approach the Israel-Hamas war or how his policies would differ from those of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Trump said in April that Israel must “finish what it started” and “get it over with quickly,” noting that it is “losing the PR war” over images coming out of Gaza.
But the incoming US president will likely seek to reimpose sanctions regimes on Tehran to “diplomatically isolate Iran” and “weaken it economically,” Brian Hook, who was Trump’s Iran envoy during his first administration, told CNN’s Becky Anderson last week. .
Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who sources say is likely to be his choice for secretary of state, have hard-line policies toward Iran.
“He has a lot of friendships in the region with leaders,” Hook said of Trump.
“I think these friendships will only deepen and I think cooperation and ties of friendship, security and trade will be much better in the coming years.”
Saudi Arabia, which helped Trump with his policy of containing Iran during his first term, is wary of supporting a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran this time, due to skepticism about the US’s willingness to protect the kingdom in the face of an Iranian attack, analysts say.
Instead, the kingdom expanded its relations with Iran.
This week, MBS spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, welcomed his vice president to Riyadh and sent the Saudi army chief of staff to Tehran for meetings with his Iranian counterpart.
Civilians flee to Rafah as Israel continues its offensive
“The kingdom is trying to ensure that it stays out of any war involving the US, Israel and Iran because of domestic anger against Israel by its own population, but also because of the effectiveness of Iran’s ballistic missiles,” Washington Executive Vice President Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute in Washington said. .
There are several political risks to today’s normalization of relations with Israel, said Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
“With normalization, Saudi Arabia realizes that it will risk possible internal political discord, regional Arab leadership and global Islamic leadership that are highly contested,” Ibish said.
“The message from Riyadh is that we want to play, but you have to give us something, and not only on the issue of Palestine, but also on the issue of Iran … we will not make a deal with the Israelis if our time is not worth it,” Ibish said.
[ad_2]