Even as he highlighted a number of new areas of cooperation aimed at revamping US-Saudi ties, President Joe Biden told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday that he believed the Crown Prince was responsible for the 2018 assassination of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The sessions in Jeddah appeared to broadly support the strategy for resetting US relations with the kingdom after years of strained communication following Khashoggi's killing.
Biden Says He Raised Khashoggi's Killing at Meeting With Saudi's MBS
The US President's private conversations with the de facto ruler of the country, who had previously pledged to declare Saudi Arabia a "pariah," attracted more attention than the formal discussions and declarations of policy.
Human rights organizations, Democrats, and the editor of the Washington Post all harshly condemned the president for fist bumping the Crown Prince at their first meeting in person. The Saudi government swiftly spread those pictures of Biden with the Crown Prince, commonly known as MBS, on Saudi state TV and Twitter, CNN reported.
Since diplomacy with the kingdom and other partners in the Middle East was viewed as one of the few paths he could take to lessen the pain at the pump, Biden traveled to Jeddah in search of solutions to one of his top political issues back home-high gas prices.
Just over a year after the US declassified an intelligence assessment claiming the Crown Prince personally ordered Khashoggi's assassination, critics said the fist bump confirmed bin Salman on the international stage. Because it "projected a degree of closeness and comfort that offers to MBS the unjustified redemption he has been desperately seeking," Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan called Biden's fist bump "shameful."
It was also a startling act from a president who had promised to "make them pay the price" by making Saudi Arabia "the pariah that they are" on the global stage during the campaign. Per WION, US intelligence authorities think that Prince Mohammed oversaw the operation that resulted in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Washington Post.
"He basically stated that he was not personally responsible for it, whereas I indicated that I thought he was," Biden remarked in reference to the Crown Prince's reaction. When Khashoggi was killed and suspected human rights violations occurred in Saudi Arabia three years ago, Biden threatened to make the country a pariah state. Now, Biden has arrived in the same nation focusing on oil, human rights, Iran, and Israel.
Khashoggi's Fiancée Reacts Over Biden-MBS Fist Bomb
Prince Mohammed gave Biden a fist bump, as shown on official television Al-Ekhbariya footage. After that, the US President was led into Al-Salam palace. Among other things, they talked about energy throughout the meeting. In the upcoming weeks, he stated that he anticipated "further steps" from Saudi Arabia in the oil sector.
Khashoggi's fiancée said that following the meeting, Biden gave the Saudi crown prince authority to kill other people. "Is this the accountability you promised for my murder? The blood of MBS's next victim is on your hands," Hatice Cengiz wrote to Biden.
The visit to the monarchy, according to Rep. Ilhan Omar, "sends the wrong message to everyone who cares about human rights." By agreeing on flights and Red Sea islands before the visit, Israel and Saudi Arabia significantly improved their relationship.
The president reiterated US support for "two states for two peoples" while in the West Bank before leaving for Jeddah. He did admit, though, that the "ground is not ripe" for resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as per The Independent.
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